Just Between Friends Consignment Franchisees Give Back

Company’s mission to serve others trickles down to franchisees and their local communities

Many of our franchisees join Just Between Friends (JBF) because our corporate mission and commitment to helping others are inspiring to them. From our first sale in CEO and co-founder Shannon Wilburn’s Tulsa living room in 1997, we have focused on assisting families all over the United States with both saving and making money. According to recent customer surveys, we have helped almost 900,000 families through our JBF consignment sale events to date. This past year, franchisees decided to go one step further, reaching out to a local charity in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: Wings of Freedom through Life Church. Wings of Freedom is a recovery living community, helping families affected by drug abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and incarceration. One of our corporate employees and Tulsa-area franchisees partnered with the church for a Christmas gift drive to help the kids whose parents are in recovery. Typically, each child gets a toy, a pair of shoes and either a coat and a complete outfit, like a shirt and a pair of pants, or two complete outfits, shoes and a toy. This past year, JBF got involved in making Christmas even merrier for these children.

JBF local franchisees partner with recovery living organization for Christmas gift drive

Dawn Pfannenstiel, Director of Training and Support for JBF, made one phone call to a major toy manufacturer and asked for a good deal. “We were able to get Melissa and Doug toys at wholesale, which saved us money,” Pfannenstiel explained. “For this Christmas drive, they normally just go to a wholesale or a department store and buy everything they need at once. They do get a discount, but their spend is a lot higher. They were willing this time to piece things together, and it saved them a ton of money, which in turn, they were able to invest back into the families. With the savings we got, we were able to buy additional toys for the children because it was such a good deal. So instead of getting one toy, the kids got a toy and a stocking stuffer-type item.” Pfannenstiel then asked local franchise sale owners, Lam Le and Daven Tackett, for more help. As she described, all franchise owners have their own “stockpiles” of nice, new toys. “These franchisees had some new items still in the package because that’s important,” Pfannenstiel said. “Not that there’s something wrong with used items, but their whole lives these kids get Goodwill items, hand-me-downs or donations. It’s imperative to us, during the holidays, to give them something that is name brand or brand-new that will be their own.” Being able to help in this way is why JBF exists, says Pfannenstiel. “That’s the whole reason why franchise owners do what we do. We want to bless our communities, and we want to be able to repay or pay it forward and take any chance that we can get so we can help other mamas or other families in our communities.” Pfannenstiel says she, Lam and Daven plan to continue helping this organization at Christmas in the future and believes other franchisees can do the same thing where they live. “I do foresee this becoming an annual event. It just goes back to our core values and our mission statement. Helping families where we can with whatever resources that we have. Franchise owners can certainly take this idea to their communities and help their neighbors,” she says.

Own a JBF franchise and be able to help others

If you are looking for a gratifying career with a company that has helping others at its core, then JBF may be perfect for you. Our franchisees do work they love while assisting community members with saving and making money for their families. They also donate new and gently used items to their local charity partners. To find out more about buying a franchise with us, explore our research pages or request a copy of our free Franchise Information Report.