Do you have a few boxes of clothing, books, and movies that you’ve been meaning to donate for a while? OppShop has a donation drop-off box in many neighborhoods near Reading, PA. Allow us to resell your unwanted goods to further the work of Opportunity House.
The Work of Opportunity House
Opportunity House is the leading homeless shelter in Berks County, providing emergency and permanent supportive housing for the area’s unhoused men, women, and children. Meeting the needs of 500 residents per year, Opportunity House offers shelter and the basic needs of life along with support for overcoming the challenges preventing sustaining housing for the long term.
Second Street Learning Center
We also operate The Second Street Learning Center, where we provide early childhood education for 200 children throughout the community, ages six weeks to 13 years old. While children receive fun and safe learning opportunities, parents can pursue employment, education, and occupational training.
The programs at Second Street Learning Center include:
- Infant
- Toddler
- PreK Counts
- Preschool
- School Age
- Summer Camp.
OppShop Thrift Store
The retail thrift store that we operate, OppShop, is a key element of our mission. We take in items in good, saleable condition and direct all of the proceeds from the sales to the shelter’s work. This branch of our work provides recycling in addition to reuse. With many recycling partners, the warehouse recycles thousands of pounds of unsold thrift store merchandise each year.
OppShop Donations
To donate to OppShop, you can:
- Bring items to the donation center located behind the OppShop thrift store (Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am-6 pm)
- Drop off donations in bins at any of the following locations:
- St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Mertztown
- American Legion, Topton
- Berks Recycling Center, Leesport
- Main Bird Park, Birdsboro
- Wyomissing Family Restaurant, Wyomissing
- West Lawn UMC, West Lawn
- Immanuel UCC, Shillington
- Wyomissing Square Apartment (Parking Garage), Wyomissing
- St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Fleetwood
- Allegheny Lutheran Church, Mohnton
- Gablesville Athletic Association, Boyertown
- St. Paul’s UCC, Fleetwood
- Weis Markets, Sinking Spring
- Island Pizza, Birdsboro
- Schedule collection of large furniture pieces.
When you bring items to the donation bins, please do so in grocery-sized bags; regular kitchen bags will not fit. We also ask that you leave the area around the bins clean of debris.
We sell a wide range of products at OppShop. Any of the following merchandise is welcome, in clean, unstained, and working condition:
- Clothing and shoes – all sizes and genders
- Media – CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs in original cases
- Kitchen utensils, cutlery, and dishes
- Cookware – pots, pans, bakeware
- Holiday items
- Furniture
- Jewelry
- Flatscreen TVs
- Bags/purses
- Toys
We can’t sell items that are damaged, dirty, or unappealing, nor can we sell chemicals, outdated electronics, building supplies, infant and toddler furniture, carpets, tires, or furniture with bold florals and patterns. Disposing of these items uses resources that could be directed toward the shelter’s work, so we do not accept them.
Find a donation drop-off box near Reading, PA, to contribute to the inventory of OppShop and promote the success of Opportunity House. We also welcome your financial support or the assistance of volunteers. For further evidence of the worthiness of our mission, click here to read about a few of our success stories. If you’d like to make a real difference in the lives of the homeless population, we offer a plethora of avenues to do so.
