'Injoy'ing a year
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on August 17, 2016 1:46 PM
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Kanita Morris, left, rings up a customer as store manager Tim Morris answers the phone at the Injoy Thrift Store on Tuesday.
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Injoy store manager Tim Morris left, and Shearon Pearson hold a pillow that she made from a T-shirt that displays the store's logo in Goldsboro on Tuesday.
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Injoy Books and Furniture is a donation-based non-profit business local to Goldsboro which seeks to help those in need by providing donated clothing, furniture and entertainment items at low cost while spreading the words of Jesus Christ.
Injoy Thrift Store is anything but typical.
Located at 1711 E. Ash St., the not-for-profit thrift store will celebrate its first anniversary in October. In the year since it has been in Goldsboro, Injoy has pursued a mission uncommon to many similar stores -- to give its money away whenever possible.
While the purpose of Injoy is not to make a profit for its owners or operators, making money is still a priority. Injoy's main goal is to take their profits and turn them back into the Goldsboro community, through donations to various organizations. Currently, Injoy donates half of their profits to four local groups -- the Wayne Pregnancy Center, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Habitat for Humanity and the Boys and Girls Club. A local board, which includes Mayor Chuck Allen, decides which organizations will receive donations.
The other half of the profits goes to Deaf Opportunity Outreach (DOOR) International, a Michigan-based Christian charity dedicated to bringing Christian ministry to the deaf.
The Goldsboro Injoy is one of four stores nationwide. One is in Rocky Mount, while the other two are in Tuscon, Arizona and Melbourne, Florida. Manager John Hollowell has been with the Goldsboro store since it opened, and worked at the Rocky Mount store for two years before that. He said that making sure the interior of the store is well-kept and presentable has been an important part of its success.
"We don't just throw a pile of clothes on the table and stick a sign in the middle saying 'one dollar each, take your pick,'" he said. "We try to make sure we have the best selections on the shelves for our customers."
The products that Injoy sells come entirely from public donations, either brought to the donations center next door or picked up at the site. If someone has furniture they want to donate but is not able to move it themselves, Injoy volunteers will go out to pick it up for them.
Although Injoy employs a limited number of part-time workers, the staff is almost entirely volunteers. Hollowell said this community engagement makes it possible for the store to continue turning its money outward instead of simply maintaining itself.
"If we didn't have our volunteers, if we had to pay staff for everything that gets done around here, it would be hard to turn a profit."
The Goldsboro store has around 45 regular volunteers. Hollowell said that volunteering at Injoy is a good way to gain job experience to use when applying for a paid position.
Injoy is one of several non-denominational Christian charities in Goldsboro. While this might potentially lead to conflict, Hollowell said that there has never been an issue with working together with other organizations.
"We're not here to step on anyone's toes, we're not here to compete with anyone," he said. "There's plenty of need to go around."