Compassion through consignment: Boardman thrift shop aids cancer charity

BOARDMAN

For 55 years, Penny Pincher has offered Mahoning Valley residents the opportunity to contribute to local charities while saving money.

The nonprofit consignment shop on Market Street donates its proceeds to local charities. Since 2011, the charity has been the Silver Lining Cancer Fund, which provides cash payments to Valley residents undergoing chemotherapy.

All proceeds from donations go to the fund, and 60 percent from consignment; the rest goes to the consignees.

Lisa Cutlip came on as general manager in 2011. She’s the one who found the Silver Lining Cancer Fund, to which she had a personal connection.

“I was so excited when I found this charity for us because [founder Dr. Lawrence Pass] was my oncologist who saved my life when I was 9 years old,” Cutlip said. “Funny how things come full circle.”

She’s a two-time cancer survivor — she fought a second bout in 2012 — and she said that’s what keeps her at Penny Pincher.

“That’s very important to me,” Cutlip said. “I remember when I was little how my mother and father struggled to pay the bills.”

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.