By Sydney Stickroth
The Vail Depot Thrift Store and Vail food bank consistently claim that without volunteers they would not be a success. As a volunteer I know that this is true. For the past three years I’ve woken up on Saturday mornings and headed over to the Thrift Store. Each day I’m greeted by the amazing manager and a wonderful group of volunteers.
We spend our time sorting through the donations, pricing items, setting up displays, and helping customers. But what gets me into the store every week is the fun that we have doing it. Between the silly conversations, shopping for one another and great stories, it’s laughs and smiles all around. The time flies by and it feels more like fun than work.

These wonderful people are all there for a common cause, the Vail community. We work hard, have fun and raise thousands of dollars for Vail families in need. The money goes towards backpack meals for students, providing meals to home bound individuals, emergency food for families in need. It’s truly amazing how a small gift of our time can make such an impact.
So the next time you visit the Vail Thrift Store, peek your head in the back to see the fun for yourself and pick up a volunteer application. All are welcome, but we especially are looking for strong volunteers to help with moving large donated items.
Another hat I wear at Resources is as the Volunteer Social Media Manager, in which I create posts and real-time videos for our Vail Depot Thrift Store and Resources Vail Food Bank Facebook pages.
I hope you’ll follow us on Facebook and visit our website, “resourcesvail.org”.
Sydney Stickroth is a longtime Greater Vail Community Resources (“ReSources”) volunteer, an elementary teacher in the Vail School District, and a very active member of the Vail community. She recently won the “Extra Yard for Teachers” grant award from the College Football Playoff Foundation.