Community Shares with Sharing and Caring

Tehachapi is well-known for its compassionate community. Rain or shine, our community steps up to the on-going needs of some of Tehachapi's residents. Thrift shops abound: some have a designated end for the monies they raise and others "reinvest" their donations right back into their stockpile of help available. Sharing and Caring, in its current location at 203 South Pauly for about three years, is one of the latter.

"We have a variety of needs to meet," shared Ada Snapp who, in her words, sort of oversees the management end of activities at Sharing and Caring. "We must continually restock our pantry as well as having funds available to help those who may be homeless or need help paying gas or electric bills, or who may be in an abusive relationship and need to find a safe place to be."

While Sharing and Caring doesn't help with phone or cable bills, it also has helped folks meeting funeral expenses and emergency prescribed medications, Ada explained.

"We don't offer a hand-out, but rather a hand up in times of need," she added with a smile. "We're not here to judge anyone or any circumstance. We do our best to help whenever we can. Sometimes we are able to do more than at other times, it all depends on the donations we receive, whether through our store or via personal or business donations."

Sharing and Caring is one of the many places assisted by not only area churches but individual and corporate donations as well. After moving into its current location, a "special angel" donated the funds to build the back garage area which houses furniture items, a sorting room for clothing and the food pantry.

"We have been blessed with not only support from the community but our volunteer staff," Ada said. "We are a 100% volunteer-based establishment. Some of our helpers have lots of time available, while others only have an hour or two. Everyone is here because they feel volunteering here is part of their individual calling. Many have discovered that when you help someone, you lose yourself and any difficulties you personally may be facing. We ultimately become more thankful for what we have because some of our clientele are in a much more difficult situation. Without our volunteers, Sharing and Caring would be nothing."

The garage area, as stated above, houses large household items, the sorting room and the food pantry, which fall into Dee's domain. "I'm always making sure our pantry is well stocked," said Dee, who has been volunteering for about two years in the garage area.

"Sorting the clothing donations that come in is also part of what I do," she said, proudly showing off the bags and bags of donated items. "There are times we get so many clothing donations that we just can't use it all," she explained further. "When we get 'overstocked' we then pass those items along to the Salvation Army. It's just another way to make sure usable items get back into the community where they are needed."

"We also have a new pick-up service available," Ada said excitedly. "If you have donations and can't make it by during business hours, just give us a call and we'll arrange to have your donations picked up. We found that many times donations would just be dropped off when we're not open. We'd find them obviously sorted through and strewn about, so we decided a pick-up service would solve that problem," she said.

"We are vandalized a lot," explained Dee. "They even crawl into our metal bins and just rip things into pieces, so we really appreciate getting a phone call if you can't get by during our business hours."

"We truly get by on a wing and a prayer," shared Ada. "And there just aren't enough words to thank our terrific community for their generosity," Ada and Dee both agreed. "We have the greatest folks who help through their donations to make it possible for Sharing and Caring to help everyone we do. "

And remember, you don't have to be in need to visit Sharing and Caring! They have lots of neat stuff and collectable items just waiting to find new homes. "Some of our customers just come in to shop and maybe find that special treasure that just leaps off the shelf at them," explained Dee. "Everyone is welcome to stop in and browse. We have regular customers who keep Sharing and Caring on their list of shopping places," she said.

Sharing and Caring is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you have questions or donations but can't stop by during business hours, please give them a call at 661-822-3001.