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1018 Columbia Ave.
Franklin, TN 37064
615-591-9612
501c (3) IRS Non Profit # 20-5480584
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OUR THRIFT STORE
OUR FULFILLMENT CENTER
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Welcome to the GEAR Foundation where the right people in the right place are doing the right thing.
You have entered the official GEAR Foundation website where you can find out what we are doing in the Franklin/Nashville community to provide oportunities to individuals with disabilities. Take a look around. Check out Our Purpose, Our Thrift Store, How you can get involved, and so much more.
The Mission of the GEAR Foundation is to provide individuals with disabilities work experiences, which will enable them to discover and develop their unique capabilities and potential, and to help them achieve the highest degree of independence and self respect.
Ms. Cheap - Tennessean Article About Our Thrift Store
Ms. Cheap: Our Thrift Store benefits employees, shoppers
GEAR Foundation store a special needs
success story
I love a cheap success story, and The GEAR Foundation and its Our Thrift Store in Franklin has
all kinds of good news this spring. If you're not familiar with The GEAR Foundation, it
stands for "Gainful Employment and Respect." It was founded by Dave Krikac as a way to create do-able jobs for his special needs daughter Sara, 27, and other disabled young adults who are eager to work. GEAR's set-up is to have job coaches oversee the special needs workers so that everybody can succeed.
The nonprofit is about to celebrate its sixth anniversary. It started with six employees and now
has 31, including 19 with special needs, who do tagging, merchandising and other jobs in the Our
Thrift Store.
This growth in the number of jobs for these hard working but hard-to-place people is big news by
itself, but there's more. Like the fact that Our Thrift is receiving literally hundreds of pieces of furniture, furnishings and appliances donated by the recently renovated Wyndham Nashville Resort, which contacted Dave. The Wyndham windfall involves so much stuff that Dave had to arrange for additional space to house it all. "It fell in our lap, but it was overwhelming logistically.
We didn't want a blessing to become a curse so after much prayer and freaking out, we said, 'we'll figure it out.' We did and it means we can create more jobs for young adults," Dave said.
The merchandise is good quality and the prices are just right for penny pinchers — as in dishwashers for $39.99 and $49.99, stoves for $89.99 and $129.99, stacked washer/dryer combos for $99.99-$129.99, refrigerators for $99-$129.99, sleeper sofas for $99.99 and wingback chairs for $49.99. The stoves looked pristine, the fridges nice and clean and the sofas and chairs priced low enough that even if you had to have them reupholstered (which I would) you would still have a deal.
There's framed art, lamps and other miscellaneous hotel room furnishings at super low prices like
$7.99-$14.99. There are multiples of almost everything and more shipments on the way. Dave
estimates the total value of the Wyndham donation at about $225,000.
There's more news from The GEAR Foundation:
• GEAR's Our Fulfillment Center has expanded, where disabled workers pack socks for shipment
around the country through a contract with Get Certified through Dan Post Boots.
• There's a new eBay business, where workers list and sell selected donated items on eBay in hopes of bringing higher prices for collectibles and jewelry.
• GEAR launched a recycled, refurbished computer Advertisement business. Franklin's Tech Pros taught Our Thrift workers how to do computer repair, and now donated computers are being wiped clean, rebuilt and sold in the store for $99 for a complete system. When Dave opened his store six years ago, he told me, "I just wanted to create an environment where I could hire young adults with disabilities. As long as we are making money and hiring kids I'm happy.''
Needless to say that now, with all this good news, Dave is a very happy man.
Our Thrift is at 1018 Columbia Highway in Franklin. Call 591-9612 or go to www.ourthriftstore.org. Stay Cheap!
Wyndham Nashville Resort Partners with GEAR
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dave Krikac
615.591-9612
Liz Hutchison
Wyndham Vacation Ownership
407-626-4594
Franklin TN, February 2010—On February 15, 2010 The GEAR Foundation announced that Wyndham Vacation Resorts and the Music City USA Property Owners Association, Inc. have agreed to provide a new channel of support to the non-profit organization. Following a renovation project at Wyndham Nashville, a timeshare project in Nashville, TN, Wyndham Vacation Resorts and the Music City USA Property Owners Association, Inc. have donated furniture, appliances, and other room furnishings to the GEAR Foundation.
In connection with future anticipated renovations, Wyndham Nashville expects, over the next three years, to donate refrigerators, stoves, washer/dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, mattresses, artwork, lamps, couches and chairs from approximately 392 units. The GEAR Foundation estimates the market value of the items donated from each condominium-style suite to be worth approximately $600, which would result in an estimated $225,000 in merchandise for GEAR to sell through "Our Thrift Store” located at 1018 Columbia Avenue in downtown Franklin, TN.
"We are honored to support GEAR by donating furniture, fixtures and appliances for the expansion of their Our Thrift Store” said Mike Sellge, Resort Manager, Wyndham Nashville. "This partnership demonstrates our commitment to the Nashville community and reaffirms our efforts to sustain our environment through our WyndhamGreen initiative.”
GEAR kicked off operations with Our Thrift Store more than six years ago. Today the organization includes Our Fulfillment Center and a thriving eBay business. Our Thrift Store had considered expanding beyond clothing and creating a home furnishings store, as current GEAR customers are interested in finding affordable, gently used items for their home.
"It's green and provides the help we need to expand our offerings and yet continue to bless the customers who depend on us for affordable clothing,” said Dave Krikac, GEAR Founder. "This is a template that we hope will attract other caring hotel organizations who might find this an attractive option for dealing with room furnishings that must be disposed of after a renovation.”
GEAR picked up the first group of donations from Wyndham on February 23,, 2010 and began offering them to customers on February 28,, 2010.
About Wyndham Vacation Ownership
Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a member of Wyndham Worldwide's (NYSE: WYN) family of companies, is the world's largest vacation ownership business, as measured by the number of vacation ownership resorts, individual vacation ownership units and owners of vacation ownership interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its three primary consumer brands, Wyndham Vacation Resorts, WorldMark by Wyndham, and Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific. Wyndham Vacation Ownership is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and is supported by approximately 12,500 employees globally.
About The GEAR Foundation (www.thegearfoundation.org)
The Mission of The GEAR Foundation, Our Thrift Store and Our Fulfillment Center is to provide individuals with disabilities with work experiences, which will enable them to develop their own unique capabilities and potential, thereby achieving Gainful Employment and Respect. Earlier this year the store received The Shining Apple Award in Business & Industry from the Williamson County School District for their support of Page and Centennial high schools' young adults with disabilities.
GEAR Partners with Tech Pros to Create More Jobs
GEAR Partners with Tech Pro's -Creates More Jobs for Special Needs Young Adults
Franklin TN, October 2009
On October 6, 2009 The GEAR Foundation announced a partnership with Tech-Pro's of Franklin. GEAR and Tech-Pros are joining forces to create a computer technician job-training program for special needs young adults in Williamson County. Tech-Pro's, led by President and CEO Gabriel Howard will be working to train employees of The GEAR Foundation in developing skills needed to repair computers donated to Our Thrift Store, a key job training program of the GEAR Foundation. After a training period of one to three months, GEAR will begin to encourage donors to bring "nicely used” computers to the thrift store so that special needs young adults can repair and then sell. "We are so appreciative of what Gabriel and the folks at Tech-Pros are offering to our kids. Their willingness to give back to the community in this manner is commendable and shows their commitment to Franklin and Williamson County,” Said Dave Krikac, founder of The GEAR Foundation.
To get started, Tech-Pros will set up a workbench for the kids so that they may work with the Tech-Pros job coaches to learn the necessary diagnostic and repair skills needed to work on current and nearly current computer models. Eventually, GEAR and Tech Pros will work together as GEAR will send donated computers to Tech-Pros if the repair is too complicated or the computer is too old to repair. "We are thrilled to partner with GEAR in this win/win effort. Tech Pros is looking forward to using our skills and talents to bless the lives of these young adults,” commented Gabriel Howard, Tech-Pros President and CEO. He further commented, "We are so impressed with the businesses that GEAR has started and the ability of these kids to learn new skills that expand their independence.”
GEAR kicked off operations with Our Thrift Store more than five years ago. Today the organization includes Our Fulfillment Center and a thriving eBay business. "Our mission is to train special needs young adults. We know that this works best when we partner with local businesses. GEAR will continue to expand operations and identify new job coaching opportunities for this underserved group of kids” said Dave Krikac. "We are grateful to Tech-Pros for what they are doing and will continue to do on behalf of our mission.”
About Tech-Pros (www.tech-pros.com)
Tech Pros was started in 2006 as an IT consulting company. In 2007 Tech Pros business model completely changed after buying AMT\The Computer Doctor located in Franklin Tennessee. Tech Pros added many new services to the company's offerings including in-store computer repair services, on-site computer repair services, data recovery services, graphic / web design services, and business network maintenance packages. In November 2007 Tech Pros opened its new location in historic downtown Franklin providing customers a convenient location for their computers to be serviced. Due to rapid growth, Tech Pros opened its second retail location located on the north side of Columbia in June 2008.
About The GEAR Foundation (www.thegearfoundation.org)
The Mission of The GEAR Foundation, Our Thrift Store and Our Fulfillment Center is to provide individuals with disabilities with work experiences, which will enable them to develop their own unique capabilities and potential, thereby achieving Gainful Employment and Respect. Earlier this year the store received The Shining Apple Award in Business & Industry from the Williamson County School District for their support of Page and Centennial high schools' young adults with disabilities.
