Page 100 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2025

GOLDEN YEARS
THRIFT SHOPS
On-base thrift shops are helping Navy and Marine Corps service members and their families stay financially shipshape while giving back. The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) has been operating thrift shops since the first one opened in 1939 at Naval Base San Diego. The shop on the Gulfport Seabee Base opened in the late 1970s and has 51 volunteers from five groups.
“Thrifting and repurposing are definitely in,” says Sara Griffin, director of volunteer support for the Society. “We are definitely seeing more people come in and that’s encouraging. The shop is a hidden gem for service members and their families.”
Funds brought in go to a relief society for emergencies and to help fund programs and services. So far this year, Guflport’s shop has brought in
$17,630. It had 3,500
shoppers in 2024.
Through the years,
funds have provided
assistance for active-
duty and retired
Sailors, Marines, and
their families.
“Volunteers,
100 | November 2025
including Naval Officers wives and other groups, go through donations and keep the best items,” Griffin said. “Then they work with other agencies on items we can’t use to keep them out of the waste stream. Thrift shops and uniform lockers offer more than just savings; they offer community and support.”
Griffin says the shops accept household goods such as coffee pots, serve ware, dishes and books along with sporting goods and clothes.
Additionally, NMCRS operates uniform lockers to help Sailors and Marines when they need to change uniforms due to a change in size or rank, or if retiring. Basic uniforms are provided by the branches of service.
Across all thrift shops, shoppers generated $2 million in revenue last year—all of which
goes directly toward NMCRS programs and services. There are 30 thrift shops
and uniform lockers located on Naval and Marine bases and they are powered by more than 1,250 volunteers.
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
on a Mission
story by Lynn Lofton
photos courtesy of Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society