Rose Garden Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Recycled Textiles: Capt. Stephen Sutter, Salvation Army assistant administrator and pastor, points out a price tag hanging from clothing that has been compressed and recycled with other textiles into a 12,000-pound bale. The bales, made of torn or soiled clothing that can't be sold, are shipped overseas and recycled for various uses.

Community gets a private peek at Salvation

Community gets a private peek at Salvation

By Mary Gottschalk

The Salvation Army Thrift Store at the corner of W. Taylor Street and Stockton Avenue is a familiar haunt of many Rose Garden area residents.

Some are looking for vintage finds and collectibles, while others are seeking books, holiday décor, exercise machines, yard and home furniture, clothes, shoes, purses and the occasional oddity, such as the 5-foot-tall safe seen for sale there in late December.

What's not familiar is the operation behind the scenes in the two-story warehouse behind the store, and the program it funds.

Salvation Army Capt. Stephen Sutter hopes to change that by hosting a tour of the facilities on Jan. 14 for interested area residents.

"We want to let people know what we're doing here," he says.

The money raised through the Salvation Army's Thrift Store operation supports the Adult Rehabilitation Center on the same site.

Through the ARC program, men dealing with substance abuse learn to overcome it and get back into society.

The Taylor Street facility has 80,000 square feet devoted to receiving, sorting, pricing and shipping out donations from Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, as well as a portion of San Benito County.

Each weekday, 10 Salvation Army trucks make 200 pickups from individual donors in the four counties. Most are scheduled according to ZIP code, and many are in response to people calling 800.95TRUCK asking for a pickup.

Sutter says each truck logs about 10,000 miles while making more than 50,000 pickups each year.

Additional trucks go out daily to each of the nine thrift stores now operated by the Salvation Army. The stores on Winchester Boulevard in San Jose and in Sunnyvale are so large they receive two deliveries a day.

After workers drop off fresh merchandise for the stores, they load up donations dropped off at the stores, as well as merchandise that didn't sell after 30 days.

Once donations arrive at Taylor Street, the sorting process begins. There are bins for everything, from clothing to shoes to books to toys to furniture to collectibles to bric-a-brac. The latter is a Victorian catchall phrase used for small items such as figurines, vases, teacups and mugs.

The collectibles and jewelry are sent to another room to be examined and priced.

Here Dan Price, supervisor, and Mike Arcilo, his assistant, have a library of 300 reference books and price guides they use in determining the value of items. On a recent day, Price was puzzling over a gray and yellow General Electric porcelain refrigerator pitcher with its original lid.

Jewelry is sorted to identify and separate precious metals and stones. This is also where first-edition books are sent.

In another area, furniture is examined for damage. Beds are put together to make sure all the pieces are there, and cabinets are checked for shelves.

Items such as sofas that are stained or a cupboard missing drawer pulls or a table with a broken leg are brought out at 10:30 a.m. each weekday for the "as is" auction.

Sutter says dealers buy furniture they believe they can fix or reupholster to sell at a higher price.

Sometimes pieces are auctioned off individually, and at other times, bids are taken for everything.

Mattresses are also examined. Those in good condition are sterilized and sanitized, while those with a stain or rip are sold to a company that uses the springs to build new mattresses.

Electric and electronic goods are fixed or recycled. The facility even recycles electronic waste.

Scrap metal is sold to dealers, but some donations are beyond salvaging.

The Salvation Army spends $100,000 a year on garbage and dump fees.

Clothes make up the largest volume of donations, and their sale account for close to 48 percent of the income.

Approximately 30,000 pieces of clothing and textiles such as sheets, towels and quilts come in each day.

Of these, about 10,000 are put on hangers, priced, categorized by type and shipped out to the stores each weekday.

Another 20,000 are discarded because they are torn or stained.

The discards are dropped onto a conveyer belt that dumps them down one story into a huge compactor that presses them into bundles weighing up to 1,200 pounds. Each weekday eight bundles of rags, as they are called, are created and sold to buyers, mostly overseas.

It all adds up to more than 1 million pounds of rags a year, which, Sutter says, brings in around $500,000.

In the past few years, the Salvation Army has also started accepting donations of cars, boats and other vehicles for resale. This effort is bringing in about $1 million a year now.

Sutter says most donors are well aware of the value of what they are donating, and they expect the Salvation Army "to sell at a reasonable price for a reasonable return."

Still, he says it's not uncommon to hear complaints that an item is priced too high.

He seldom agrees with that complaint, pointing out that every effort is made to price things fairly, and prices are still well below those in most antique and second-hand stores.

Additionally, purchases at the stores are tax-free.

Sutter recalls one donor who brought in four fur coats with a professional appraisal value of $50,000.

Yet, the highest price on any of the four coats was $8,000. And it did sell.

However furs are rare, and most articles of clothing are priced under $10.

All this collecting and selling adds up to $6 million a year in sales through the thrift stores, as well as the monies generated through vehicle and rag sales.

In turn, that money underwrites the ARC program.

The program currently has 102 men enrolled, each having made a six-month commitment. Many are battling addiction to alcohol or drugs, and for some, the program means taking responsibility for themselves for the first time in their lives.

Each day starts with a 6 a.m. wakeup. Breakfast is served at 6:30 a.m., morning devotions are at 7 and work starts at 7:30.

The men in the program are all provided with clothing, food, personal hygiene needs and living quarters.

In turn, they work for the Salvation Army. Most work in the processing center, sorting, hanging, loading and unloading trucks, but some work in the kitchen and some in janitorial positions.

Additionally, the ARC men receive one-on-one counseling, group therapy and a life skills class that covers basics ranging from budgeting money and writing a résumé to job interview techniques. They also take separate courses in other areas, including anger management and fathering.

While there is no restriction on religious faith for the men accepted into the program, they must attend the daily devotions, a bible study class each week and two chapel services.

"If they stay here, they have to participate in our program," Sutter says. "We want to change their self-image and help them transition from substance abuse to a life of sobriety.

"For some men, it's their first job. They've sponged off their families or been thieves. They're learning job skills and good work habits.

"We're here for them, and we want them fully functional when they leave."

After completing the program, some of the men are ready to return to their families and the jobs they held before entering ARC.

Others need additional time and support, which the Salvation Army offers in the form of paid employment.

Sutter knows the program works, because he's gone through it.

A former geologist with alcohol abuse problems, Sutter entered an ARC program in Denver in 1995.

"I understand hopelessness and the dark night of the soul," he says.

Rising through the ranks, Sutter in now an ordained minister and in his seventh year as a captain. After 15 years, he will rise to major.

"There's no better way to make a living," he says.

To keep the program going, Sutter says it needs ongoing donations of clean, good-quality goods.

"We have no control of what we get. The sales are the sole support for the men in recovery.

"We're not soliciting cash, we're soliciting couches. We're funded by sales of donations we receive and go pick up," he says.

Monetary donations and the annual holiday kettle collections fund the Salvation Army's homeless shelter and food programs, a separate operation.

Sutter hopes the upcoming tour and open house will make the community aware of all the Salvation Army's efforts as well as its accomplishments.

That many nearby residents may be unaware of what the Salvation Army is doing doesn't surprise Sutter.

"We try to keep a low profile in the neighborhood. We try to keep noise at a minimum and keep our impact to a minimum.

"I'm hoping the neighborhood may have resources in time and talent that may help us, and I hope we may have resources to help them," he says.

A tour of the Salvation Army facilities at 702 W. Taylor St. is set for Jan. 14 at 1:30 p.m. Those attending are asked to be onsite at 1:15 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, but Sutter says he appreciates RSVPs to stephen_sutter@usw.salvationarmy.org or 408.298.7600. Donations may be arranged by calling toll-free to 800.95TRUCK.