A Decade of Giving

MICHAEL MITSEFF mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com

FORT WHITE - It has been more than 10 years since the Fort White Community Thrift Shop was founded to serve the residents of Fort White, Columbia and Alachua counties.

Since June 1997, when the thrift shop first opened the doors to its original building, a two-car garage located on U.S. Highway 27, the local community has been the beneficiary of a ministry whose goal has been to be a blessing from the very start.

In recognition of the support the thrift shop has received from the community through the intervening years, a 10th anniversary celebration will take place on Saturday during normal business hours. "We're going to have a cookout with Lamar Moseley doing the barbecue, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It'll be a day of fun and fellowship," said Connie Moseley, manager.

When viewed from outside the front of the main building, the thrift shop appears to be diminutive, but once inside, the enormity and sheer number of items is a surprise. Knickknacks line the shelves of the narrow but long entryway that opens into a room filled with racks and shelves of clothes for adults and children.

The main room offers a varied inventory of goods from jewelry to pots and pans and many other items including scarves, hats, earrings and too many items to describe. The building located behind the main building is filled with bed frames, mattresses and a selection of lamps and shades. The newest building was added last year to house furniture.

"I've been here a year in December. It's a lot of fun working here and I enjoy the people I work with and meet," volunteer Don Kinser said.

The items are priced by volunteers and others and it is an ongoing job. "I've been working here once a week for almost two years now," said Lisa Swearingen. "A lot of the clothes like the jeans, shirts and blouses have a set price, knickknacks and smaller stuff we price it ourselves, but antiques are priced by a person who looks them up."

No one is paid; whether they are full-time staff or part-time volunteers, not even the board of directors. All freely give of their time and talents. All the money raised goes into helping individuals, families, and organizations in the region who in turn help others who are struggling. The only money that does not directly benefit people is used to support the thrift shop, to pay for utilities, building maintenance and improvements, the property lease, fuel and insurance.

The thrift shop also maintains an emergency food bank. "We get a lot of support from Jack Brown, who runs Boo at the Zoo at the Gainesville Zoo. Once a year, when he shows the nocturnal animals, he collects a can of food for admission and he gives us half of the food he collects," Moseley said. "We also get help from the Columbia County Farm Bureau."

The volunteer staff joins in a morning ritual that helps them focus on others to start their day off right. "We have our community prayer bulletin board and we start each day praying for those whose names are on the prayer board," said Jim Roach, chairman of the thrift shop's board of directors.

Roach has been with the shop from the beginning. "I was a local pastor and I knew and admired the original founders, and I was attracted to the ministry. I do all the long-range planning for the shop, and our board of directors reviews all long-term requests for help from agencies and ministries," Roach said.

During the Saturday celebration, Roach said there will be speeches from specific people who have been especially close to the thrift shop during the years. "We're going to have the best barbecue that time can touch, but the rest of it is a surprise for the community, to thank the people in the community who have gone out of their way to help us over the years," Roach said.

Many organizations have been beneficiaries of the thrift shop over the past 10 years. "We sent stuff to the Salvation Army during the attack on Sept. 11, 2001. We sent goods to Katrina victims in Gulfport, Miss., and other cities in Mississippi," Roach said.

The thrift store has also sent cartons of stuffed animals for kids trapped in disaster areas to give them something to hold onto at a disaster site. "We try to help missions by playing a support role. We also provide a place for community service hours to be served and we also provide a place for hands on job training running, like running the register and stocking shelves," Roach said.

"I come in as often as I can, perhaps once a week," said J. Marie Clemons, of Fort White. "I come in to bring items for the thrift shop, but mainly I look for Christian books." The steady stream of people who browse the shelves of merchandise do so from the daily during business hours.