The monthly night for fun and volunteering lets people purchase vintage items while helping Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska
By Jay Sorgi
for the Register
You can sip on a margarita or a Moscow mule and nosh on charcuterie-style appetizers, while hanging up and buying vintage fashion – all as you volunteer at a Lincoln thrift store whose mission is for the greater glory of God.
St. Louise Gift & Thrift at 2201 O Street near downtown Lincoln, a part of Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska (CSS), is hosting monthly “Thrift & Sip” events on Monday nights, which are aimed to draw volunteers to enjoy cocktails or wine while helping set up the thrift shop for the next day’s sale, with the chance to buy items as well.
The next two Thrift & Sip events are scheduled for Nov. 2 and 30. It is free to participate, with all proceeds from purchases raising money for Catholic Social Services.
“Everyone for the most part leaves and they’re commenting, ‘Oh, that was really fun. I would do this again. This was a great idea,” said Caroline Nebel, a CSS thrift store manager.
Nebel has been with St. Louise for about a year and a half and with Catholic Social Services for three years. She said they came up with the idea and hosted their first edition of Thrift & Sip just after the beginning of 2026.
“We started having this 50-percent-off sale for the first full week of the month, and we realized we just need more help to hang a whole bunch of clothes so they’re ready to go out during the week. We sell at least three times the volume as we normally would,” Nebel said. “That means we need to prepare three times the amount of items to put out. It’s a fun way for us to get extra help.”
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SNR photos | Natalie Bender
Nebel said the thrift shop saw that they wanted to create an event that could draw volunteers from people who can’t volunteer between the typical work hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. She finds the range of volunteers spans from young adults to retirees.
“We were targeting moms at our Catholic parishes who want to come for an evening and have some drinks with their friends,” she said. “They get to help us out, and then also they can shop, too.”
Each Thrift & Sip night’s food and drink selections tend to follow particular themes. Nebel said the initial Thrift & Sip events involved wine and charcuterie boards with meat and cheese, but she wanted to expand the drink selections.
“This last one was Moscow mule night,” said Nebel, a former bartender. “I made Moscow mules and we had just some snacks with it. The previous one, we did margaritas and had chips and salsa. We’re starting to get creative and realize we don’t always have to do wine.”
The event and the shop both raise money for CSS and the many arms of compassion it extends to those in need in Southern Nebraska, which Nebel says includes rental or other monetary assistance, a food market, the St. Gianna’s domestic violence and emergency pregnancy shelter for women and children, immigration and legal services, and homeless and street ministry.
Nebel said they have been drawing about five to 10 volunteers for each Thrift & Sip. The store tends to draw groups like a Bible study from the Cathedral of the Risen Christ. They also tend to interact with the one or two random volunteers who become friends with group members in a short time.
“Seeing the volunteers talk amongst themselves and get to know each other,” she said. “Maybe they’re from different parishes and maybe they share just parts of their life, whether or not it’s faith-related. I think that’s really powerful.”
However, she hopes to double that amount of volunteers who hang up vintage clothing and other items while enjoying wine or the cocktails she provides.
“I could probably host 20 people,” she said. “Our main handicap at the shop is volunteer capacity. We could do so much more.”
It’s all to help the store organize for its biggest sale, where people can find everything from vintage fashion to… um… big wax lampshades.
“We had this lamp that looked like a regular lamp. It had a metal stand. But then when you look closely, you realize the whole lampshade is wax. It’s actually a candle and the top has a wick,” Nebel said.
“But it was like a huge chunk of wax. It had to be almost like a foot across and … maybe a foot tall. It was crazy.”
It’s the type of thing you might only experience at Thrift & Sip, a night that allows people to enjoy a mixed drink, help set up or even purchase a huge hunk of wax, all to serve God’s mission.
For more information or to sign up, call 402-474-1600 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
St. Louise Gift & Thrift does not accept donations in-person. People are invited to drop off items at the Catholic Social Services Donation Center at 1300 N. 14th St. in Lincoln.
Help by shopping!
> All are welcome to shop at CSS thrift stores. Sale of donated items—in the thrift stores or through online sales at linktr.ee/cssnebraska—allow CSS to fund its many other services as needed, helping clients with food, personal care, diapers, financial assistance, gift cards and a host of other services.
> When donated clothing items are unusable, they are baled and sold—still raising funds for CSS—to be used to make insulation, industrial rags, or sent to markets abroad for other uses. More than 93 percent of items donated to CSS find new life, either through the thrift stores, e-commerce, resold to third-party brokers, or recycled properly.
