After 45 years, St. George’s Dragon Thrift Shop shuts its doors due to lack of volunteers

After 45 years serving as a hub of charity and conviviality, St. George’s Dragon Thrift Shop on Foothill Boulevard closed its doors last week, to the surprise of many of its volunteers and patrons, as well as those who benefited from its goodwill.

News came two months ago, when officials from St. George’s Episcopal Church announced its volunteer-run shop would close due to a decline in available volunteer workers, shop director Cara Green said on June 18, the shop’s final day of operation.

“Over time, we just didn’t have the membership within the church who could run it any longer. It’s a big commitment,” said Green, who’s worked at the La Cañada store in different capacities for 18 years.

“There’s great sadness on the part of the volunteers, the parish and the community. We have lots of friends here,” she added.

Rector Rev. Amy Pringle said in an interview Tuesday St. George’s volunteer base has shrunk in recent years as members age and church attendance declines. When thrift store leaders, exhausted by years of service, were unable to find new volunteers to take over, they decided it was time to close up shop.

“It’s really sad to lose that ministry, which was really our best outreach ministry to the community,” Pringle added. “But, of course, it gives us additional rental property. And again, as our membership shrinks, that additional income will help.”

St. George’s currently owns the roughly 1,700-square-foot space in which the Dragon Thrift Shop operated, as well as properties being rented by Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu, Tranquillity Skin Care and Spa, and the Outlook newspaper. The church also leases its rectory as a private residence, Pringle said.

She stressed the closure was the result of a lack of available manpower, and was not financially motivated.

Just before Dragon Thrift Shop opened its doors for its final day of operations, Pasadena resident and former volunteer Norma Wright waited for one last chance to browse the racks. She called it a meeting place for friends and a bargain hunter’s dream.

“I just love it,” Wright said. “You just felt that you were really being philanthropic, that you were helping people.”

Last year, the shop gave $23,241 to 11 area ministries, including youth organizations, food pantries and a 25% tithe to St. George’s Episcopal Church, according to figures provided by Green. Most of the recipients learned of the service by shop volunteers who had personal connections to the groups.

Aside from the church, the largest recipient of the thrift shop revenue was the ACTS Food Pantry operated through the Altadena Community Church. The annual $3,000 cash donation went a long way helping pantry workers build meal kits for hungry and food insecure families, Pastor Joe McGowan said Friday.

He estimated the pantry distributes about 1,560 meal kits each year. While operations can be maintained for a while through current funding, the absence of Dragon Thrift Shop’s contributions will be felt in the coming months.

“They were a significant contributor to our ministry — it has been an incredibly generous gift,” McGowan said. “Down the road (the shop’s closure) will be a hardship.”

Meanwhile, Pringle says St. George’s board of directors will have to convene to make a decision about what kind of programs and ministries it would like to continue and support in the future.

“We’ll be hard pressed, actually, to find the next ministry that will do as much good for that many people,” she said of the shop. “But God will tell us.”