Like many who move to lakeside, my husband and I needed to furnish a house quickly.
In 2005, our El Parque home was ready for us to move into, but we were living in Vermont and certainly weren’t going to haul furniture all that way. Plus, New England furniture really wasn’t going to work in Mexico.
I will admit I made a few mistakes in the rush to furnish the house over a two-week vacation. When we returned the next time, we were pleased to find a few bazaars and consignment stores ready to take our mistakes. One of the first stores we discovered, and the one we stuck with for many years, was Casi Nuevo. Even before I understood that this was a charity and the profits benefited students with special education needs, I appreciated the service I was given.
Now living here full time, I wanted to find out how the bazaars/consignment stores are making a difference in the lives of those living at Lakeside. There must be something good going on given how many have sprung up over the past five years.
I talked with Brenda Hernandez, the manager of Casi Nuevo, and learned that there are many Mexican clients who are very appreciative of what is donated or put on consignment. I heard about a young girl set to graduate from high school who wanted a beautiful dress to wear to her graduation and subsequent parties. She priced her dream dresses locally and in Guadalajara and discovered that she would need 2,000 pesos to buy any of the ones she loved. Having much less money to spend, she stopped into Casi Nuevo and found three dresses for 100 pesos each. They were beautiful, one was even brand new with the price tags on it. She was able to have a variety of dresses for all the graduation events and told Brenda that she felt like a princess.
Brenda didn’t need to tell me about health and funeral-cost crises that are made easier through consignment donations. When my husband died, I was able to quickly earn some money through the sale of his many safety items — wheelchair, walker, canes, etc. I learned that this is true for others, too. A man with cancer had mounting bills and funds funds to off-set the costs. His friends and family began putting items from the house on consignment to help with the hospital and treatment costs. When he passed away, they continued this to ensure that the wife had enough money to pay the funeral costs. It made a big difference for the wife to have the bills covered and the customers were happy to pay the price, knowing that they were getting something they needed and contributing to a need that we all could have someday.
Sometimes a person just wants things out of the house and doesn’t care about the consignment fee. Recently a man donated much of what was in the house he had just purchased and told Casi Nuevo to ensure the children had the profits for something special. The staff at Casi Nuevo told me that donation alone was enough to cover four percent of the total annual costs of maintaining the school.
So, stop in to a consignment/bazaar if you’re looking for costumes for a theme party, or a winter sweater because you thought it never got cold here, or a special picture frame for a favorite family memory, or a piece of furniture for that corner that never has looked quite right. And don’t be surprised if, as at Casi Nuevo, the staff asks you what you are looking for and takes it as a challenge to help you find the perfect item.