Volunteer turns broken, dirty jewelry into pieces anyone could be proud of
Before Louise Broach Fisher showed up, the Social Concerns Thrift Shop had to set aside much of the jewelry that was donated until someone had time to sift through it.
The shop gets hundreds of jewelry and watch donations each month, but many are broken, dirty or tangled beyond recognition.
Fisher, a regular volunteer at the shop, has changed that.
A few months ago, she was looking for volunteer work at the shop when Susan Candies, shop manager, suggested she help untangle some of the jewelry.
Now, Fisher has her own small office at the store where she spends hours untangling, repairing and polishing donated jewelry. She also had the idea to put each piece into its own separate bag to make it look more appealing for customers.
“It’s very time consuming. A lot of it has to be polished, a lot is broken,” she said. “But it’s not expert work.”
Fisher has no background in jewelry repair, but she does describe herself as a “professional volunteer,” having served on many volunteer boards throughout her life.
Thanks to her help, the store’s jewelry sales have increased.
“They’ve sold a lot of jewelry since I started,” Fisher said.
The store has hundreds of earrings, necklaces and watches to choose from for the entire family: women, men and children.
Fisher continues to come up with new ways to salvage donated jewelry, even when it seems un-repairable.
“Sometimes we get lockets and pendants that don’t even have a chain, so I started using ribbon to make them into necklaces again,” she said.
The store has drawers full of jewelry waiting to be repaired by Fisher.
All of the Halloween-themed jewelry she has repaired was recently put out for sale, she said.
The Halloween jewelry was put out to celebrate the shop switching seasons this week. Now most merchandise, especially clothes, is for winter.
The shop is located at 1601 Paul Maillard Road in Luling.
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