Philanthropic Thrift Store Cuts Its First Check

When Jeannette Tomany opened this February it was an innovative idea with an untested business model.

Frustrated by , the retail maven and mom (her son is a student at ) merged her talents to open a thrift store-cum-nonprofit: 100 percent of profits would go to Sonoma's public schools.

After only a few months the risk is paying off – the store just announced a donation of $6,000 to the Sonoma Valley Unified School District.

The funds will be divided into 11 $500 donations, to each of Sonoma's public schools.  In addition, Republic of Thrift will donate $500 to the .

The new business isn't in the black yet. Tomany works without salary and has significant start-up costs left to recoup. (Employees Michelle Mammini, Tomany's sister, and Kira Hewittis earn a salary.)

Still, Tomany is optimistic.

“Our first quarter turned out to be an incredible start for Republic of Thrift," she said. "We feel like we are on the cusp of doing something huge: we are going to prove that the little guys out there can do big things and make a difference.”

The Republic of Thrift is open Mon - Sat 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Sunday noon - 5 p.m. at 17496 Sonoma Highway. Keep up to date on the Republic of Thrift's ever changing stock on Facebook or on the web.  The store accepts gently used clothing, shoes, furniture, house wares and more.