GMS Vignettes: ‘Not Just a Nice Piece of China’
By • July 11, 2024 0 1099
For Georgetown shoppers wanting to invest their money back into the community, consider supporting these three non-profits which will ensure your dollar makes a tremendous difference: The Opportunity Shop, The Lantern Bookshop, and Dog Tag Bakery.
The Opportunity Shop
The Opportunity Shop is a charitable consignment shop which sells luxury merchandise such as antiques, jewelry, furniture, fine china, and collectibles to support the benevolent initiatives of the Washington D.C. chapter of The Christ Child Society. Located at 1427 Wisconsin Avenue, the non-profit has called Georgetown home since 1933.
All proceeds from The Opportunity Shop support The Christ Child Society’s three core programs within the D.C. area: the Student Success Program, the Girls on the Rise Program, and the Beloved Babies Layette Program. The Student Success Program provides educational resources for local school children such as access to tutoring and counseling services and monthly “Book Bunch” meetings to promote early literacy and enthusiasm about books. The program also has an adopt-a-school initiative which enables The Christ Child Society’s partner schools to receive additional material support such as field trip funding, school uniforms, and technology for classrooms. Anchored at the Mary Virginia Merrick Center in Ward 8, The Girls on the Rise Program supports girls ages 8 to 18 living in Southeast D.C. by providing them with after-school and summer camp programming aimed towards nurturing their self-confidence both academically and emotionally. Finally, the 125-year old Beloved Babies Layette Program is The Christ Child Society’s longest-standing program. Every year, The Opportunity Shop financially supports the creation of 4,000 layettes (kits full of baby supplies) for low-income mothers living throughout the District of Columbia.
“We do diapers—which is the most important thing because diapers are expensive and obviously needed—wipes, clothing, onesies, a sleep sack, books, and then, stuffed into the book, we have two pages front and back that has resources for them—where they can go for social services, where they can go for food, where they can go for help with domestic violence, and where they can go for parenting classes,” Stephanie Farrell, the Opportunity Shop’s Director of Advancement, said. “One item we also include in every layette is a hand-knit blanket. We have 180 women who knit for us—and younger people too—and we also have blanket buddies who bring them the yarn and then bring the blankets back. Then we fold them, put a miraculous medal on them, put a prayer on them, and let the recipient know that their baby’s loved and they’re loved and someone’s praying for them.”
For Farrell, whose mother was also a member of the Christ Child Society, the goal is to ensure that The Opportunity Shop is a “must-stop” for anyone visiting the Georgetown neighborhood.
“We want our customers to feel good about what they’re supporting—that it’s not just a nice piece of china, but also that that purchase will go to really help a family in need,” Farrell said.
Store manager Catherine Payling is similarly dedicated to taking The Opportunity Shop to the next level so that it may continue supporting charitable community programming for years to come. Payling has a background in arts and antiques as well as a long history of working with nonprofits. In addition to working as a licensed auctioneer, she has also been lecturing about nonprofit management at Georgetown University since 2012. She began working at The Opportunity Shop less than a year ago, and since then she has already had a tremendous impact on sales.
“To date with the calendar year, we are 30% above what we did last year,” Payling said
The secret to her success? Payling credits the seemingly minute changes which can have a huge impact.
“My whole life I’ve made small changes to nonprofits in order to make them more successful,” Payling said. “One of the things that we did was enhance the lighting so that people can better see the merchandise. This is the kind of thing that I was teaching when I was at Georgetown. I was showing students that you don’t have to spend a lot of money and you don’t have to have a massive vision—what you have to do is tackle the small things first.”
The Opportunity Shop is open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. from Wed. through Sat. and from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sun. You can also browse The Opportunity Shop’s inventory online here.
The Lantern Bookshop
Joy Allen and Elizabeth Margosches at The Lantern Bookshop. Photo by Hailey Wharram.
For book lovers looking to indulge their literary appetite while supporting a good cause, The Lantern Bookshop on 3241 P Street is the perfect place to spend a sunny afternoon. Run by the local chapter of the Bryn Mawr College alumni association, this non-profit, second-hand bookstore donates all of their proceeds towards the Bryn Mawr College scholarship fund—an initiative which helps current students at the historically women’s college pursue internship opportunities.
Local Bryn Mawr alumna Diana Morgan Laylin Young (’35) brought The Lantern to the Georgetown neighborhood in 1977. Originally located on M Street, The Lantern moved to its current location on P Street in 1996. In addition to an impressive assortment of hardbacks and softcovers, a quick perusal of the bookshelves will also reveal a myriad of other donated merchandise—-everything from vinyl records to postcards. Over the past 47 years, this Georgetown storefront has fundraised over $730,000 for the students of Bryn Mawr College.
If you pop into The Lantern on a Friday, then you will likely meet weekly volunteers Elizabeth Margosches and Joy Allen, two Bryn Mawr alumni from the class of 1969. As for the former, Dr. Margosches began volunteering for The Lantern twelve years ago following her retirement from the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition to wanting to help brighten the futures of current undergraduates at her alma mater, she was also enthusiastic to work alongside fellow Bryn Mawr alumnae.
“I’ve been involved with Bryn Mawr clubs in any town I’ve been in,” Margosches said. “When I did my graduate work in Michigan, I was involved in the alumni club there. It’s always good to have long lasting friendships and threads—to have things that you can recognize from the past that help you value what you’ve got now.”
Joy Allen also began working for The Lantern after her retirement three years ago in hopes of deepening her connection with the alumni community—particularly her fellow Friday volunteer.
“One of the reasons I come on Friday is because I have known Elizabeth since we were freshman,” Allen said.
In addition to aiding college students back in Pennsylvania, Allen also cherishes the opportunity to connect with the vibrant local student community right here in Georgetown.
“We have lots of youngsters coming in, college students,” Allen said. “We don’t sell textbooks, but there are just a lot of smart young people in their twenties here in Georgetown and this is a relaxing place for them.”
The Lantern Bookshop is open on Thurs. and Fri. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun. from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Dog Tag Bakery
CEO Meghan Ogilvie at Dog Tag Bakery. Photo by Hailey Wharram.
Dog Tag Bakery, located just off of Wisconsin Avenue on 3206 Grace Street, is another non-profit organization which is dedicated to education—namely the higher education of veterans. Every pastry, coffee, or sandwich purchased at Dog Tag Bakery directly supports the Dog Tag Entrepreneurial 5-month Fellowship Program, a program in which veterans, military spouses, and military caregivers can earn a certificate of business administration from Georgetown University. The program has also recently expanded to Chicago through Loyola University Chicago.
Celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year, Dog Tag Bakery is the result of a serendipitous partnership between Father Rick Curry and Constance “Connie” Milstein. Father Curry was a Jesuit priest who dedicated his life to the service of others. Born without his right forearm, Father Curry earned a PhD in Educational Theater from New York University and dedicated his life to helping empower individuals of different abilities. He founded the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped (NTWH) in 1977 and the Wounded Warriors Writer’s Workshop in 2003 after counseling soldiers returning home from combat with “physical, mental, and emotional wounds” at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Falls Church, VA. In addition to his passion for service, he also had a passion for baking, authoring two cookbooks, ‘The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking’ and ‘The Secrets of Jesuit Soup Making,’ during his lifetime. When he met Milstein, a founding member of the prominent military family support foundation Blue Star Families who also ran a bakery in Mount Kisco, NY dedicated to serving and employing women from disadvantaged situations, in 2013, their shared passion for baking and veteran-centric service inspired them to collaborate to bring Dog Tag Bakery to life.
“I ended up meeting our co-founder Father Curry actually at my best friend’s wedding in 2011,” current Dog Tag CEO Meghan Ogilvie said. “He painted this photo, this idea, as a bakery that provides veterans who have served with the chance to redefine themselves, find purpose differently, and develop skill sets that would help them move on and move forward.”
After hearing Father Curry’s impassioned pitch, Ogilvie became Dog Tag’s first employee in 2012. Following his passing in 2015, she became the company’s CEO. Dog Tag’s mission especially resonated with Ogilvie because of her military background: her father served in the Marine Corps for 26 years and her sister also served after graduating from the United States Naval Academy.
“I’m connected to what we do because I see my mom in it. I see my sister who’s a marine and got out. I see my dad,” Ogilvie said.
Since 2014, over 300 veterans, caregivers, and military family members have completed the Dog Tag Entrepreneurial 5-month Fellowship Program. Alumni are immortalized within the bakery through a silver canopy of dog tags hanging on the ceiling—one dog tag to represent each graduate. In addition to adding their pendants to this heartfelt chandelier, participants walk away with much more than a certificate in business at the end of each fellowship.
“It’s a five-month fellowship focused on academic and experiential learning, networking, business planning, and wellness,” Ogilvie said. “Our goal is that we invest five feet wide and 100 feet deep in each individual so that when they go back into their community it’s not like throwing a pebble, it’s like throwing a rock. So the ripple effect is that we are able to have a greater impact because we invest in people individually and wholly. Then, when they go back into their community, they do the same. That is the greatest joy—someone saying ‘this has made a difference in my life’ or ‘I feel as though I have a better understanding of who I am and what I want,’ or for the first time allowing themselves to be seen, heard, and valued. And they do the hard work—we just set it up.”
Dog Tag Bakery is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends. You can also place an online order with Dog Tag Bakery here.
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