A phenomenon has been organically growing in South Philly since the fall of 2014, the CityKids consignment sale at Ss. Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., and the ’16 spring sale is coming April 16-17. Consigners get checks when they sell well, but the main beneficiary is a 501(c)3 named South Philly Parents Resource Center (SPPRC), which has been gaining momentum for closer to 10 years.
According to a statement, “CityKids is the largest non-profit consignment sale in the area, the only consignment sale in the city, and 100 percent volunteer run.” And Generation 3 Electric, 1257 S. 26th St., co-owner Debbie Lutz would know – she’s been doing her research.
“I learned, I studied. This is serious business,” she said, and found large sales called Cozy Tots in Bryn Mawr and Little Angels in the Northeast.
She came to SPPRC the most common and popular way – their popular Kids South of Washington (KSOW) Google group, which connects parents to resources of all kinds but regularly serves as a digital space where moms and dads can sell and buy gently-used goods, gear, toys, and clothes.
In their first effort, they brought 50 consignors to the Neumann-Goretti cafeteria, attracting more than 270 shoppers. The next year, they had nearly 100 consignors and 640 shoppers. This spring’s sale is expected to be the biggest and best yet.
“I was pregnant about four years ago, and I was a new mom in the neighborhood. I didn’t know a lot of other moms,” Lutz said. “I found out there was a group behind this listserv – nothing exists by magic.”
She met Rachel Howe, the then-president and one of the founders of the earliest form of what would become SPPRC. Howe said she and some new moms originally met with their tiny babies at Benna’s Café, 1236 S. Eighth St., but “the babies got too big to hold in our laps.” When it was that small, a prompt like “I’m going to be at the park at 2 p.m. – come and meet me!” worked well, she recalled. Or a little class on song and everyone brings a song. Suddenly, there were hundreds on the list, and she couldn’t exactly say “‘Hey everyone, come over at noon and we’ll make cookies together’, but it also felt like we had so much energy there. Can we harness it and create a little more?” she wondered.
Back in August ’12, SPR featured SPPRC in its pages as the group started to grow. Now, it seems, Howe has gracefully and willingly handed over the steering of its next chapter to Lutz, the new president, who’s helping the organization find a physical space to facilitate programming and meet-ups (South Philly row homes are not ideal for 10+ moms and their babies).
“I’m really grateful they’ve been able to take it over,” Howe, a feminist teacher of writing who works at Temple and Rowan universities, said. “They’re going to professionalize it and do more outreach – my job was to get it off the ground.”
The sales help, and Lutz takes running them seriously because she wants them to be exciting moments that South Philadelphians look forward to regularly.
“We want to run it as an enjoyable business so people want to consign and shop. If it’s run well and it’s providing a service, people will want to come back,” Lutz reasoned. “We finished at the end of last year, between the four sales, at around $17,000.”
When Lutz began to commit seriously to growing and formalizing SPPRC, she said there were three goals.
“Number one was update our web presence and incorporate the KSOW Google group better into the website. Membership in the online community will always be free, you just need to be a parent in the four [South Philly] zip codes,” she explained. “The second thing we wanted to do was secure a permanent space” and, she says, they’re very close but not close enough to divulge an address or opening date (“we’re walking through the process of getting a zoning variance for the location”). Lastly, “we’re looking to transform the group into a more membership-based group with a more stable offering of programs.”
Programming, naturally, takes many forms: breastfeeding groups, new mom groups, work-life balance sessions, bilingual play dates, babywearing workshops, nutrition classes, the list goes on. Furthermore, a slew of interested parties is interested in invigorating the space but is waiting until SPPRC has it all wrapped up. “Please let me know when you have keys” is a common response, Lutz said.
As for consigning, she said there are philosophies and rich ones behind it.
“In a small South Philly home, you find yourself being buried alive by children’s stuff and you want to efficiently pass it on and it’s very green,” she reminded.
She bought for closer to $200 a second-hand stroller that retails for $900. And for lower-income families, they’re used to having no choice with hand-me-downs, and CityKids lets them have choices.
“It’s just nice to be able to come and pick out what they want, and they have a choice and they can afford the choice,” she said. “Donations are lovely but it can be hard if it’s not something you want or need.”
Nuemann-Goretti’s director of operations and alumni relations, John Murawski Jr. (class of 1996), is fully supportive of CityKids.
“I think what Deb and her team have done is wonderful for the community, and we here at Nuemann-Goretti are in the center of the community,” the Pennsport resident said. “Hosting CityKids is our way of welcoming the young families of our community into the Neumann-Goretti family.”
Howe said SPPRC can do much more than offer goods and services.
“It cuts down on the isolation. Some people are on their own, and you can show up and be a mess. And it feels good to offer someone advice about the one thing you’ve figured out,” she said, noting that with some “very successful professionals, suddenly nothing you do is successful.”
More importantly, some families have nearby relatives, family members on the same block or built-in support networks. With many families flocking to South Philly, SPPRC can keep and anchor them to a community they find and build as parents.
“There are a lot of people who are choosing to live in our neighborhoods, it’s a social choice,” Howe said. “So many families tend to leave at school age and if we bond them with a deeper root, you’re connected to a community.”
Contact Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Over the course of four CityKids sales, the South Philly Parents Resource Center has raised close to $17,000 and hopes to raise more through its April 16-17 sale.
Photos Provided by Kristen Catoe
