Optimist Club Thrift Store supported by royal volunteers

Special to Leader-Press 

A sparkly blouse. Darling pink shoes. Teacups perfect for the 4th Annual Mommy/Daddy and Me Sweetheart Tea coming up on Feb. 8. The Copperas Cove Five Hills royalty enjoy volunteering their time at the Optimist Thrift Store in Cove Terrace Shopping Center to not only see all the terrific items but to lend a hand putting out more merchandise, sorting donations and helping make the store look its best. 
Young Miss Five Hills Angelica Torres enjoyed discovering all that the store has to offer.
“Volunteering at the Optimist Thrift Shop showed me that if we all pitch in and donate our time, we can help organizations support our community,” Torres said. “The Optimist Thrift Store has lots of interesting trinkets. It’s like a finding hidden treasures.”
The store, operated by the Copperas Cove Optimist Club comprised of volunteers, donates to Copperas Cove ISD students through Communities in Schools, families who have experienced a tragedy such as a fire, McLane Children’s Hospital, provides scholarships to high school students, partners with the Miss Five Hills Scholarship Pageant and the list goes on.
Preteen Miss Five Hills Kaydence Roberts said when she is volunteering at the Optimist Thrift Store, she is not just helping the Optimist Club, but all of the people and organizations it supports.
“I always love helping out at The Optimist thrift store. They offer items donated by the community at really good prices,” Roberts said. “They also donate to other organizations from the funds they receive from these sales.  It all about the community helping each other.”
The titleholders began volunteering at the thrift store five years ago and volunteer on a quarterly basis or more often if asked. It was not long after the queens began volunteering in the store that the Optimist Thrift Store became a partner to the Miss Five Hills Scholarship Pageant in helping the event offer additional scholarships to its newly crowned royalty.
Susan Ayers is a member of the Copperas Cove Optimist Club and is found volunteering in the store nearly every day that it is open.
“You have no idea how much we appreciate the pageant girls for helping the Optimist Club at the thrift store,” Ayers said. “They did a tremendous job.”
Junior Miss Five Hills Hayley Sawyer loves to read. So, she headed right to the book section to get it organized and more user-friendly to customers. 
“It felt great helping at the Optimist Thrift Shop because it does so much to help those in our community,” Sawyer said. “It was a lot of fun organizing and sorting the books and shoes. The volunteers there really care about their customers and the community.”
The Optimist Thrift Store is open on Fridays and Saturdays and accepts donations on these days. Large donations may be made outside of these days by contacting the Optimist Club.