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“Tea for a Cause: Brewing Connections and Supporting Families in Need”

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In the fall of 2024, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Brant Thrift store had an abundance of lovely teacups, a budget that was being stretched to its limit, four tables in the lobby, and a shortage of hygiene products for distribution.

It was suggested that tea parties were popular, and it gave individuals a chance to socialize.  What if individuals could select their teacup and tea and for a donation could retain their teacup?  We would hold it every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m at our tables in our lobby during the month of September 2024. 

But we needed a purpose for the donations. Several years prior, students had identified the benefits of supplying hygiene products along with the food bags to help offset the rising costs families were handling.  Families appreciated the hygiene products, and no one turned down toilet paper. That would be our cause – helping offset the cost of the hygiene products.

I didn’t have excess store volunteers, so I approached a St. Mary’s conference, and each week two of their Vincentians hosted the event.

2,488 personal hygiene bags (PHB) along with food bags were given to families in 2024.  Each PHB consists of toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, body wash, toilet paper, deodorant and bar soap. Each PHB is valued at $14.45. donations in the initial Tea for a Cause held in September 2024 totaled $155.

By popular demand, starting back in January 2025, our Tea for a Cause is held on the third Thursday for eleven months hosted by different conferences.  We haven’t made a bundle of money; teacup inventory hasn’t shrunk significantly; but one glorious thing we have found is a venue for people to reach out and talk to each other (often strangers) over a cup of tea and to pay it forward so that someone who can’t afford that pretty cup can have it as a gift.

Kristine Paul, Manager
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Brant Thrift Store

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