Rainbow Thrift Shoppe Volunteer Spotlight: Eileen Slak

Meet Eileen Slak - Rainbow Thrift Shoppe Volunteer

How long have you been volunteering with the Rainbow and at the Thrift Shoppe?

• I started volunteering with Rainbow at the beginning of April (2025) as the Thrift Shoppe began it’s set up.

What initially inspired you to volunteer with Rainbow?

• Retirement presented me with the time to be able to volunteer. The opening of the Thrift Shoppe presented a great opportunity to volunteer with Rainbow in Fort Atkinson.

What tasks do you typically help with when you're volunteering?

• I am a cashier and assist customers with their purchases and help with keeping the store and merchandise looking neat and tidy.

What is the most rewarding part of your volunteer role?

• As a cashier I get to interact with all of the customers. It is fun to catch up with old friends and to meet new ones.

How does knowing that your work at the Thrift Shoppe directly supports Rainbow's local hospice and palliative care programs make you feel?

• It is always a great feeling to assist programs that assist those in need. My employment for 26 years was working for a charitable non-profit and now that I am retired this is a way for me to continue to assist an organization that does so much to help others.

For many in the community, hospice and palliative care are deeply personal. Does this cause have a personal significance to you?

• Yes, hospice is very personal for me. We used the services of Rainbow in 2010 when my 22 year old son was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It is a great organization that assists families during the hardest time in their lives.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering volunteering at the Thrift Shoppe?

• It is an opportunity to give back to your community and the hours can be very flexible around your schedule. The shop is a great place to work with other volunteers and meet the community. The jobs that volunteers do are easily learned.

Is there anything else you’d like the community to know about the Thrift Shoppe?

• It’s a fun place to shop and well as to volunteer in. So if you don’t have time in your schedule to fit in a few hours to volunteer be sure to stop in and shop. We would love to see you.