Second Chance Thrift Store celebrates two years of aiding community

The Second Chance Thrift Store, currently operating in the lower level of the Red Oak First United Methodist Church at 600 East Hammond St., recently celebrated a major milestone.
On Nov. 14, store volunteers celebrated the store’s second anniversary in the community with special prizes. Volunteer Holly Paulson, who spearheaded the creation of the store, said it’s grown far beyond what she was expecting.
“When I first proposed the idea for the store, we certainly had a vision, but it has grown into way more than that. This all started when we had a garage sale and asked if people might be interested in a thrift store. The response in favor of it was overwhelming, so we thought, well, let’s try it,” said Paulson.
Not only has the stock been well-replenished, Paulson said the store’s footprint has grown far beyond what they anticipated.
“We started with one room in the basement. We now have a donation room, three sales rooms, a sorting room, and two storage rooms, and it’s growing every weekend. We’re constantly amazed. Some people are especially appreciative for a place to donate things that they no longer need. Others are thrilled to find exactly what they were looking for at a price they can afford, because our motto is, ‘buy what you need, pay what you can.’ We have no prices on anything we sell, and from the day we first started to now, the response is still overwhelming, and we’re so very grateful,” advised Paulson.
Red Oak FUMC pastor Jenn Van Nostrand said that she’s also been surprised and impressed with how massive the store has gotten.
“I had no idea this would grow to what it has. In fact, I remember when Holly presented this idea, she suggested being open with our current hours, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and at the time I told her that was a lot. I suggested maybe we just have it open once per month for the two days, I wasn’t sure about opening two days every week. But she asked me to give it a try, and I agreed, and since then I’ve been blown away,” stated Van Nostrand. “God has blown open this door like there’s none other. This is, and I want people to realize, is definitely driven by God. This is not something that we did, God gave us this vision, we embraced it, and we obeyed, and look how it’s grown. It is such a blessing to us as a church. I was telling somebody in a recent conversation that sometimes churches and communities close. That’s just a reality. The question is, are they missed when they closed? The resounding answer for the Red Oak First United Methodist Church is if this church closed, we would be very, very much missed in this community, in large part because of the Second Chance Thrift Store, and that just delights me. It makes me so happy because we are truly being God’s hands and feet and we are doing what we are called to do.”
With the amount of space they have opened up, Paulson said there’s no shortage of a variety of things to find.
“I like to joke that if we don’t have it, you probably don’t need it. We get tons of clothes, and many of them still have the new tags on. We get kitchenware, furniture, decor, toys, books, baby items, even electronics. It’s just mind-boggling. And fortunately, the people in Red Oak have great taste, because the stuff we get is just so great. We get so many really nice things donated, so we’re thrilled,” commented Paulson.
The funds raised from the store are used for the benefit of organizations both inside and outside of the community.
“We give money to the Pregnancy Center of Southwest Iowa, Corn Dawgz Boarding to help with vaccines, and the Christ ‘s Cupboard Food Pantry, We also donate to a mission. The Father’s Delight is a mission in Africa. The last major thing we use the funding for is the United Methodist Apportionment Fund through this church. If someone calls us and tells us they need help with utilities or food or something like that, then we can use the monies from that fund to help them,” Paulson explained. We give quarterly cash donations to these missions andcommunity organizations, and we also look for additional ways to serve them. Because of our relationship with Christ’s Cupboard, on Dec. 16 at 7 p.m., the Joyful Noise Community Choir is doing a concert here in our sanctuary and the freewill offering will go to support the pantry. It’s not only on Fridays and Saturdays that the thrift store is active and involved, but it’s many, many days throughout the week where we hear of a way we can help somebody. If someone is homeless or someone who is in a tight spot comes to our church during the week and needs something that we can offer, we take them downstairs to the thrift store and they help themselves to whatever it is they are especially needing
Paulson said the thrift store they also helps the area schools and the pantry with the items they receive.
“We donate items to Inman School. Last winter we had a surplus of children’s mittens and gloves, and we took them a couple of boxes of that. The Red Oak Jr./Sr. High School has a donation program where they can receive funds for donating fabric items, clothes and curtains and that kind of thing, so if there’s something we can’t use, we can give it to them. We also give additional support to Christ’s Cupboard Food Pantry. If they’re short on winter coats or baby clothes or something, we share. So it’s really a community-oriented project.”
Van Nostrand said that while much of the basement is filling up, they always have space for more items, and more people.
“Some days we think we can’t hold any more, and then other days we get creative. There’s always room for more. It’s more than even just the physical things that we have. It’s building a community. We’ve built a community now that is tied to the thrift store, and they love it. There’s people who are regular customers who are waiting at 9 o’clock to get in, not only because of the physical things that they can receive, but also because there is a spirit of community here. They’re welcome, they’re accepted, they are embraced and loved well by the believers that are here and by the volunteers,” Van Nostrand advised.
The store also boasts a community table where they offer different flavors of hot tea and iced tea to anyone who needs a shopping break, such as husbands who finish looking around before their wives, to people who feel lonesome and just want to visit, and for people who are troubled and want a second opinion. Paulson said a lot of the customers sit down for a period of time and just talk to other shoppers and the volunteers, which has allowed them to get to know so many wonderful people.
Along with the growth of the store and the growth of the feeling of community and fellowship, Paulson said they’ve seen massive growth in the people volunteering behind the scenes.
“When we first started, we sheepishly requested that our church members volunteer three hours a month. Now we have 12 to 15 volunteers who are there every hour that we are open and hate to miss it if they’re out of town. And the age range of those volunteers is vast. Our oldest volunteer is 89 years old and he’s there constantly. We also have a wide age range in our customer base. From kids to retirees, they all come in, they all find something they like, and they all find a friend there,” explained Paulson. “There’s a lot of laughing and talking and hugging. It’s our happy place, for sure. We now have volunteers here nearly every day of the week. Even when we’re not open, there are people downstairs working tirelessly to make the store what it is. It’s definitely not your typical thrift store. We have a person that is extremely good at decorating and putting things together like a Saks Fifth Avenue display. We have others who excel at organization. Some of the smallest things are in obvious places because they thought of it first. All of our volunteers have a certain specialty that they just automatically are drawn to, so there’s a place for everyone. We also have community volunteers and we are always welcoming more. We’re happy to have anyone come and volunteer with us.”
As the food pantry and the community fridge here in town have seen an uptick in traffic, so too has the thrift store.
“The traffic and the merchandise that comes in and goes out have grown exponentially. Also, I think that if there is a need, people know to come to our church. We may not see it so much at the thrift store, but our clientele is such that they know that if they do have a need that they can come to us. It may not be known to everybody, maybe not even the workers, but in the office we see it because they have that connection to the thrift store and they know that we will be helping. So I think that that has been an increase as well,” Van Nostrand stated. “Fairly often, if somebody needs something that we don’t have at the moment, they give us a name and a phone number and when we get it in we call them and they zip over and pick it up. Our donation box is completely anonymous. It’s covered up. None of us know what people give, so there are no expectations. We also have a prayer request box. So not only are we here to serve their physical needs, we’re also here to serve their spiritual needs as well.”
If someone is thinking of making a donation, Paulson said they are open to anything, even things that may not be working at 100%.
“They can bring things in that are working, and even if it’s not, one of our volunteers is quite the fix-it man. We can make mild repairs. Also, ee can always find good uses for items that are in demand in a certain season, so right now, that would be the heavier clothing such as coats, gloves, hats, and those kinds of things, if people have extra,” Paulson said.
With the coming of the holiday season, Paulson said they’re experimenting this month with special evening hours from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2 and Wednesday, Dec. 17.
“We have not done evening hours before, but we found there are a couple of days in the month of December we can open a few extra hours just to see if there might be a need for that. One of our volunteers actually proposed that we should try extended shopping hours for the Christmas season, especially for those families that can’t make it on Fridays and Saturdays, maybe their work hours or their children’s activities or whatever coincide with our hours. This will allow us to give them a special time for them to specifically shop for the holidays,” Paulson explained. “We have some items that are like new, including toys and clothing. We have plenty of things that could be used as Christmas gifts. Many of our items come still in an unopened package or still with the tags hanging off the sleeves.”
Paulson added that depending on how things go for the special hours, there might be more opportunities to open in the coming new year.
“If these December evening hours seem to be a need, then we’re open to discussing additional hours. In the interim, we can accommodate people outside of the regular hours.  We’ve had a number of people who want to donate after a death in the family or after someone moves that cannot get here on Friday and Saturday, so we make appointments with them to accept donations, and as we said before, if somebody comes to the church in need, we will accommodate. It’s not like a chain store, we are very personalized,” commented Paulson.
Van Nostrand also gave a shout out to everyone in the community for their support of the thrift store.
“Our donors are a crucial part of the equation. If we didn’t have our donors, we wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing. Their generosity plays a huge role into this, and we are so appreciative of them. When I talk about filling a deeper need, I’m talking about those donors, too. We would love to have them stay as well and be able to build even deeper relationship with, because everyone has a burden, and we want to be able to share that with them and help them through it,” stated Van Nostrand.
Van Nostrand and Paulson said they’re looking forward to meeting even more people through the store this year, seeing the community grow, and seeing what the new year brings for the store.