We’ve had the great privilege to help churches in Arizona come together to serve their neighbors since their first Compassion Clinic in Queen Creek in 2011. Through the success of the Clinic, Arizona’s volunteer team learned that not only were the churches in their community hungry to work together, but that the local people were seriously underserved. Exit interviews proved that the area had a huge lack of social services and community resources. The biggest problem was that social service agencies and churches providing services to this area needed a place to meet clients.
The volunteers responded to this need by creating a brand new way to unite churches to serve: a community resource center they named the Compassion Care Center. A small building in an impoverished community now provides a place where those in need can come and receive a wide variety of services ranging from parenting classes and pregnancy counseling to ESL classes, job services, rent and utility assistance, food, clothing, and much more.
Some of the funds needed to run the Compassion Care Center come from Redeemed Threads, a thrift store volunteers started as a creative funding arm for the Centers’s work.
Tiffani Chavira has served as volunteer manager of Redeemed Threads for almost two years and was happy to share a bit of her story with us–why she volunteers, how she has grown, and what she is looking forward to in coming months and years. Tiffani is also a major proponent of bringing an Adorned In Grace Design Studio to Arizona–a place to mentor young women who face obstacles in life that make them vulnerable to human trafficking.
Why do you volunteer? What inspired you to get involved with Compassion Connect Arizona?
I volunteer because it gives me a chance to be around people who have need. Whether they need assistance, a new outfit, or just a smile. Jennelle Esquivel (Compassion Connect Arizona’s Regional Director) and I have been close friends since we met when we were 15. I’ve loved her, her family, and their spirit of ministry as long as I’ve known her and when she mentioned a few years ago that something like a store might happen and San Tan Valley Compassion Care Center might happen, I started helping her get donations for some of the initial costs. There were so many other people involved at the beginning and I had two small children at the time so I didn’t get too involved but when Jen came to me about a year and a half ago and asked if I wanted to volunteer in the store I said absolutely. My time grew from one day a week, to two, and now I manage the store.
“I have always wanted to be active in my community and Compassion Connect has definitely given me a direction. I now have an available approach because I can interact with people on so many different levels.”
Did anything change for you after you decided to get involved?
I have always wanted to be active in my community and Compassion Connect has definitely given me a direction. I now have an available approach because I can interact with people on so many different levels. There are customers, clients, donors, and volunteers who walk through our doors as well as people who interact with us via social networking and through our local networking meetings. I am active in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods and that makes getting the word out easier and fun because my friends are supportive and always want to know more about what we do. People in my neighborhood especially know that they can ask me questions and hopefully get resources and/or help from the Care Center and Redeemed Threads. They also know when we need donations, when we have sales, and are ALWAYS supportive of us.
Can you describe a bit of what your volunteer role looks like?
My role as manager of Redeemed Threads is to try to make sure the store is running smoothly and we are making money to help support the Care Center. I make sure our volunteers have a clear schedule of duties and we all know that we have to do our part to make the store a nice place to work and to shop. It’s a labor of love. We all WANT to be here and that is the greatest blessing.
Tiffani with Redeemed Threads’ recent award: Best Thrift Shop in San Tan Valley/ Queen Creek
Why are you passionate about helping start a Design Studio in Arizona?
We all know what a deceptive face there is on human trafficking. I want to be in a position to actually save youngsters from ever facing the terror and devastation that can come from putting their trust in the wrong place. I want to be a safe haven for a young person when they have nowhere else to go and no one to talk to.
I am a real person. I have been through abuse. I am passionate about seeing success in others. I love to love people, especially young people. I guess I just want to be part of somewhere that is just 100% positive. I walked into the Design Studio in Portland and I felt like it was a place of love and laughter. Where young girls could come together as individuals and come out as a bonded group, stronger than ever and united in God’s love, knowing their value.
San Tan Valley is a growing community and now is the time to establish a safe haven, while it is still growing. We want to have the Design Studio be a place that everyone talks about as being that successful outreach for youngsters: a place where we can feed their bodies, hearts, minds, and souls. A place where we can teach life skills and be a jumping off place for the rest of their lives. A place where they can go out into the world and let them know that there was a place of God that was there for them as a child that they would take with them forever and hopefully that mission of hope would spread.
“San Tan Valley is a growing community and now is the time to establish a safe haven…We want to have the Design Studio be a place that everyone talks about as being that successful outreach for youngsters: a place where we can feed their bodies, hearts, minds, and souls.”
Do you have any favorite stories from your time volunteering?
I have been able to help out several people while I’ve been here. I am fairly easy to talk to and that has turned into a chance to help a few people change their lives a bit. I’m so happy to have been even a small part of that. I will continue to do that every day.
When I first started here, we had another manager, Joy Livingston. She and I talked quite a bit and I mentioned that I had a sewing machine in my closet that my grandmother had bought me and that I hadn’t even opened it yet. She really encouraged me to get it out and start using it. I had one of my neighbors show me some basics and then I became a YouTube addict. 🙂
With Joy’s encouragement, I found a way to upcycle men’s shirts into aprons. We brainstormed and she helped me brand Chavira Designs. Basically, I crochet, sew, and craft items and sell them in the store and give a portion back to support the Design Studio when it gets going.
My favorite part of this though, is the ministry part. I have been able to make and give away many aprons and pillows that are memories of loved ones who have passed on. When I do these, they are free of charge and are a part of my ministry. It is a great feeling to make extra money to help my family but it is a greater feeling to gift someone something that is so special to them.
I have several customers who are my favorites. There are a few who come almost weekly and a lot who come at least once or twice a month. Almost every one of our customers also donates. There are too many stories to count but my favorite thing is the amount of people who come in because someone else told them about how great we are!!
Anything else you want to add?
I have been so blessed to be CHOSEN to hold this position right now. I value it in my life and my family loves that it is something that makes me happy. My son also volunteers and my three smallest kids are involved in some of the classes. We are rooted in the community and we love it here. My husband is our backbone and we are hoping to move out, to make it grow and spread like wildfire!!
Interested in learning more about the work of Compassion Connect Arizona? Visit us here.
