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Click on the Roses for Autism website and you'll find a photo of Kristen Vineyard's customer counter at The Village Express in Branford, with a busy intern at work, helping describe the non-profit's Discover, Learn, Work! outreach program. Vineyard often uses her place of business as an incubator to benefit those in need, sometimes with efforts as simple (yet effective) as her counter-jar collection drive to raise money for different charities each month. Vineyard's latest undertaking will support job-hunting veterans as the downtown business has just become a collection point for non-profit Connecticut Save-A-Suit.

She may be a small business owner, but Kristen Vineyard is thinking big when it comes to being a part of the greater community.

Since she took over ownership of Village Express in downtown Branford in 2012, Kristen’s found ways to use the busy shop as a hub where customers and community members can feel good about the work at hand and have the chance to do something nice for someone else.

That’s Kristen’s familiar customer counter in the “Summer Internship” feature photo on the Roses for Autism website. On the Connecticut Save-A-Suit website, The Village Express is listed as the only shoreline location at which people can drop off gently used business suits that will be picked up to provide professional business attire to former military to assist with their career transition.

Regulars who pop in to check their rental mailbox, ship a package, make a copy, or receive other office services such as notary, fax, scanning, or secure shredding know the unassuming collection jar on Kristen’s counter has a little sign that changes monthly. This month’s card: “Feed Branford Kids.” Past collections have benefited Read to Grow, Community Dining Room, Orchard House, Roses for Autism, and East Haven Food Pantry, to name a few.

“I like to pick a local charity, and since I started doing this, I’ve even had some call me and ask if I’ll consider them,” says Kristen.

Moments later, a customer stopping in for a few copies pays with a few dimes and leaves a dollar bill in the jar.

“People are really generous,” says Kristen, who also collects tips in the jar from customers borrowing a bit of the shop’s supplies, such as packing tape. “It’s been anywhere from $75 to close to $300 per charity each month.”

On this particular day, there’s another little handmade sign in the shop. This one is next to a big aluminum baking tray on a workstation surface: “Banana Bread with Pecans—Help Yourself!” As with many things managed by Kristen at her business, there’s more to the unexpected treat than meets the eye. The baked delight was made from a batch of bananas Kristen “recycled” the night before, to help a customer out.

“We recycle everything we can here—even things like the backs of our stickers, which are paper, we recycle instead of throwing away. One of my customers comes in and picks up my cardboard to recycle, and yesterday he had a box of overripe bananas and asked if I could use them. They were perfect for banana bread!”

Another recycling project that Kristen has taken on long-term is her newest community service commitment, as a drop off/pick up site for Save-A-Suit of Connecticut (www.saveasuit.org). Kristen heard about the non-profit just last week and signed up in a heartbeat.

“I just saw something on Channel 8 about this group based in Connecticut called Save-A-Suit and I called them up, because I thought it was a good thing,” says Kristen. “We set it up just [last week]. So we’re a local collection site where people can donate their gently used business attire, men’s and women’s, and they will give them to veterans in the process of coming back and trying to find a job.”

From dedicating some space to store donated suits to something as simple as collecting change for charity or sponsoring a Blood Drive for the American Red Cross, being able to add community service projects to her business plan is an especially rewarding part of owning a small business for Kristen, who comes from a family of small business owners.

“All my life, my parents were in retail, from when I was little,” says Kristen, an East Haven native and resident. “So it is in my blood, pretty much.”

Kristen worked at her parent’s convenience store for many years and continued on at the business after it was sold to a new owner.

“My parents sold it when I was pregnant with my youngest son, and it worked out for me because I was able to say part time and still have the flexibility to be my kids’ room mom or go on field trips,” says Kristen. “Then in about 2007, I was ready for full-time work, but the economy was not. I stuck it out where I was. It helped pay the grocery bills.”

When Kristen’s mom met up with an old high school friend, Peter Concelmo of Branford, at a gathering a few years back, she learned Concelmo was planning to retire from his business, The Village Express.

“She casually mentioned it to me, and I talked it over with my husband, and he said, ‘Let’s buy it,’” says Kristen.

The couple took over the shop with Kristen at the helm and an experienced Concelmo family member, Patricia, on staff. Even with stiff competition from Uncle Sam (aka the United States Postal Service) and big-box office service/shipping businesses like Staples, business has been steady. Kristen attributes good customer service as a main reason why customers keep coming back.

“I think people appreciate good customer service,” says Kristen. “When people come in, you treat everybody the same, whether they’re spending 20 cents on copies or $20 to ship something.”

One of the friendly faces Kristen has been happy to add to her staff is an intern from another worthy organization she supports, Roses for Autism. The Guilford-based organization grows and sells fresh-cut flowers employing individuals with autism. Proceeds help fund scholarships and programs for career training, including Discover Learn, Work. The program first reached out to Kristen in 2013 seeking a placement for an intern.

“They ship flowers and they approached me because they had someone who had expressed an interest in the shipping end of it,” says Kristen. “They called me and asked me if I would be willing to have him, and I said absolutely. I think it’s a really valuable organization to support, because it helps to expose them to the work environment. I’ve had the same young man for the last two summers. He does a great job.”

Kristen said the intern is not only helpful, but also definitely adds to the “community” she cultivates at her business. Another form of community is a monthly book club she started up for interested customers. The group meets on a weeknight at the shop after hours.

“I love to read, and customers are always commenting on my books, so I thought starting a book club would be kind of a neat way to reach out to the community. So we meet here every four to six weeks, depending on the weather and everybody’s schedule,” she says.

The Village Express Book Club recently took up The Madonnas of Leningrad as its latest title.

“We kind of toss around ideas for books. It’s always a joint decision,” says Kristen.

By adding opportunities to get involved, support great causes, and receive dependable mail, shipping, and office services, Kristen’s found a way to strike just the right balance between being a place business and a place of community.

“It’s a business, so it’s a lot of work, but it’s a community place, for sure,” Kristen says. “It’s busy, but that’s because I’m involved in lots of things. I enjoy it. I’m happy here.”

Contributions for Save-A-Suit of Connecticut can be brought to The Village Express, 1204 Main Street, during business hours. For more information, call 203-481-7426; find The Village Express on Facebook.