Grab Bag 1.0: A Family Affair

At first glance NAEIR’s Grab Bag area seems unorganized, maybe even a little chaotic and challenging to navigate.  I suspect this may well be by design.  A closer look reveals that these very characteristics are some of the greatest things about Grab Bag; you never know what you might find. From one day to the next things change – product disappears, or seems to.  Product is replenished.  New items are added. There’s a strong compulsion to linger over many of the items you come across as you walk through this area.  On any given, day – especially early in the day, people and product alike sometimes move quickly, at other times members linger over certain items -  with Steve Adams helping members while maintaining a sense of organization as best he can. 

Steve Adams, Grab Bag Supervisor

Having said this, I need to make something very clear.  A minute (if that) with Steve Adams, Grab Bag Supervisor, communicates an obvious commitment in overseeing Grab Bag.  Anything less than maintaining a well-organized operation is not in his make-up.  Steve strives daily to make sense of an area that members are encouraged to take full advantage of.  They make every effort to unearth hidden treasure not always in plain sight, and will move heaven and earth – not to mention cartons, pallets, rolls of fabric, office supplies, wall-coverings and many more items too numerous to list here.

Last week I talked with three people from three different member organizations that have visited Grab Bag for years.

All three organizations share a common goal: to create programs and fund projects for people in need.  Each had a unique approach and each sought a different mix of product in Grab Bag.

I first met David Mairs, a business administrator at Calvary Lighthouse, an Assembly of God church in Rochelle, IL. Lighthouse runs programs for kids of all ages, has a youth ministry and supports local missions such as food banks.  Calvary Lighthouse has benefitted greatly in its 15 plus years as a member of NAEIR.

David Mairs, a business administrator
at Calvary Lighthouse, poses with his
grab bag finds

During this Grab Bag visit Mairs found all sorts of great educational supplies that will help with the Lighthouse’s after school programs, as well as some basic janitorial and maintenance supplies that help cut down on their overall budget.  Savings realized through their Grab Bag visits allow them to direct budget resources more toward their organization’s core mission.

Mairs says he has a particular attitude in mind when coming to Grab Bag.  He’s always looking ahead.  As Mairs surveys and in some cases more carefully examines many of the products on pallets, he’s thoughtful about what his organization might be able to use three to six months and often as far out as a year in advance. On this trip, Mairs found 20 piñatas that he will use in October for Lighthouse’s Annual Harvest Festival.

Carl Thomas, a first time visitor
to Grab Bag from Radiant Life Church in 
Festus, MO

Something else that I observed as being apparent in Grab Bag that I noticed first through Mairs is the commitment organizations have toward helping one another.  As Steve Adams points out “grab bag is really a family thing.” He explained that the Grab Bag experience helps to further cement the relationship that NAEIR wants to establish with its members. Grab Bag provides us with opportunities to show members what NAEIR at its core, is all about.  

Relationships among members are interesting in their own right as well.

Since the organizations all have a common goal, they’re all willing to work together toward that goal. For example, while I was in Grab Bag Mairs happened across a pallet of first aid kits. First aid kits in Grab Bag are considered a gold mine.  Mairs took the few first aid kits that he felt his organization could use and then alerted other members in Grab Bag to the fact that this was a great item that he knew others could make use of as well.   This is when I met Paul Swanson, an administrator at Calvary Christian Academy.

Stay tuned for the next installation about Grab Bag, in which I talk to Paul Swanson.