Casa Mesita refers to two separate

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organizations in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Casa Mesita Thrift Shop and Casa Mesita Group Home are two of many

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

organizations in

Los Alamos County Los Alamos County (English: "The Poplars" or "Cottonwoods"; ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,419. The smallest county by area in the state, Los Alamos County was formed from parts of ...

, one of the

highest-income counties in the United States There are 3,144 County (United States), counties and county-equivalents in the United States. The source of the data is the U.S. Census Bureau and the data is current as of the indicated year. Independent city (United States), Independent cities ...

, in a state with household income far below the national median.

Casa Mesita Thrift Shop

Casa Mesita Thrift Shop (NMSCC 0833772, Casa Mesita Thrift Shop Inc.) is a

organization that operates a

thrift shop "Thrift Shop" is a song written and performed by American hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring vocals from American singer Wanz, released in 2012, as the fourth single from the former's debut studio album, '' The Heist'' (2012). The lyr ...

for the purpose of supporting a group home for girls. The thrift shop sells donated, mostly used goods. The organization is 100% volunteer run; it has no employees and pays no salaries and no wages. At times, the thrift shop has paid casual labor to transport unsellable items to the municipal landfill. The thrift shop benefits society by providing: *significant financial and other support to Casa Mesita Group Home *urgently needed clothing and household items to local families in distress due to fires and other catastrophes *surplus donations to deserving clients of other local non-profit organizations *additional surplus donations to Clothes for Kids, Salvation Army, an orphanage in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and other non-profit organizations *an efficient, socially and environmentally responsible way for donors to discard usable material goods *high quality goods at low cost to residents of Los Alamos and the surrounding area *greater variety of retail shopping in Los Alamos In 2005, Casa Mesita Thrift Shop purchased a larger single-family house for the group home. The thrift shop was also the owner of the previous house that had been occupied by the group home. The group home pays no rent to the thrift shop. Also in 2005, the thrift shop moved from its long-term location in a garage on a back street (15th Street) to a storefront facing the local supermarket across a parking lot (Meri Mac shopping plaza between Trinity and Central). The new location increased traffic to the thrift shop but meant that the thrift shop no longer could accept as many donations of bulkier items such as couches, major household appliances (

white goods A major appliance is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation. Such appliances are sometimes collectively known as white goods, as the products were tradi ...

), construction materials, and moving boxes. Alternative solutions for major appliances and construction materials include giving them away through the Los Alamos chapter of Freecycle, and donating them to Habitat for Humanity ReStores in Española and Santa Fe. The Española ReStore has a drop-off location in Los Alamos. Cardboard moving boxes in very good condition can be passed on to others via Freecycle or by calling local real estate agencies. A local package shipper, UPEX, accepts donations of used

foam peanut Foam peanuts, also known as foam popcorn, packing peanuts, or packing noodles, are a common loose-fill packaging and cushioning material used to prevent damage to fragile objects during shipping. They are shaped to interlock when compressed an ...

s. Casa Mesita sells books about cooking, crafts, home repair, health, general reference, popular novels, and children's books. Other books can be donated at Mesa Public Library, where the Friends of the Library Bookstore accepts many used books for resale and an informal free book swap operates in the library lobby. Laboratory equipment can be sold or donated to

Ed Grothus Edward Bernard Grothus (June 28, 1923 – February 12, 2009) was an American machinist and technician at the Los Alamos National Laboratory during the 1950s and 1960s. In later life he became the owner of a surplus store which he used as a b ...

's laboratory surplus shop, The Black Hole. In 2009, Casa Mesita re-opened its doors to young girls in need, after being closed for two years due to lack of state funding.

Casa Mesita Group Home

Casa Mesita Group Home (NMSCC 0724302, Casa Mesita Inc.) is a

group home A group home, congregate living facility, care home (the latter especially in British English and Australian English), adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living as well as medical car ...

for up to 8 girls aged 12–18,New Mexico Juvenile Justice Program Inventory
founded in 1972Casa Mesita: A special place to call home
Los Alamos Monitor (newspaper) story 12 December 2005. to shelter girls in need of a safe place to live. It is a

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

agency.

References

External links

VolunteerMatch
web page for Casa Mesita Thrift Shop
ReStores in New Mexico
{{Coord, 35, 52, 49.9, N, 106, 17, 40.2, W, display=title Social enterprises Children's charities based in the United States Social work organizations in the United States Charities based in New Mexico Los Alamos, New Mexico