Perth, Ontario is home to one of two Jewel’s Gently Used Clothing locations run by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County, this one situated inside the Metro Mall at 48 Wilson Street West. The shop resells donated clothing at affordable prices, but its function extends well past a simple secondhand retail operation, since every dollar it generates helps fund Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County’s mentoring programs, which pair children and youth in the region with adult mentors through structured community and school based matches. That structure means a routine trip to shop for a jacket or a pair of jeans in Perth translates directly into program funding for local kids who benefit from a consistent, caring adult role model in their lives.
The Perth store sits inside a small mall setting, giving it a bit more foot traffic and visibility than a standalone storefront might have in a town of Perth’s size, and it functions as a practical stop for area residents looking for budget friendly clothing options alongside their other errands. Because inventory depends on what the community donates, the racks shift regularly, rewarding shoppers who check in often rather than expecting a static, unchanging selection. That donation driven model is standard for nonprofit thrift retailers, but here it carries the added weight of directly supporting a specific, well established youth mentoring organization rather than a general charitable fund.
Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated in Canada for well over a century, and its Lanark County chapter extends that national mission down to the local level, matching mentors with children across Perth, Smiths Falls, and the surrounding rural townships. Running two thrift stores under the Jewel’s Gently Used Clothing name, one in Perth and a second in nearby Smiths Falls, gives the chapter a dual revenue stream and a dual community presence across Lanark County rather than concentrating fundraising in a single location. For Perth area shoppers, that means the money spent at the Wilson Street West store stays within the county, funding matches and mentoring relationships for kids who live in the same communities as the shop’s customers and donors.
Donating gently used clothing to the Perth location is itself a straightforward way for residents to support youth mentoring without a cash contribution, since clothing that might otherwise sit unused in a closet becomes both an affordable purchase for another local family and a funding source for mentoring programs at the same time. For anyone in Perth or the surrounding Lanark County area looking to shop secondhand clothing while directly supporting local youth, Jewel’s Gently Used Clothing at Metro Mall offers a clear, tangible connection between the purchase and the cause. In short, Jewel’s Gently Used Clothing in Perth is a Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County thrift store where every clothing purchase and donation helps fund mentoring programs for children and youth across the county.
