In many buildings on 2 city blocks, store helps causes worldwide

By Michelle Stuckey - For The Herald

FORT WHITE — Betty Bush first thought of the idea to start a thrift shop after a yard sale at a local church.

“There was a lot of stuff left over and we laughed and made the comment that we needed to start a thrift shop, and that’s exactly what we did,” Bush said.

A short time later, in June of 1997, the Fort White Community Thrift Shop was opened for business.

When the shop began, it was affiliated with a local church but soon became incorporated and now helps many different churches with their mission trip needs, with many of those needs spanning the country and even the world, said Connie Moseley, who has been volunteering since the shop began.

Each morning when the shop is opened, prayers from their community prayer board are read.

“We open up the shop with prayer,” she said. “That’s the number one thing.”

Since it began 10 years ago, the shop has been helping out non-profit organizations and international mission trips. And the shop has grown, now encompassing several buildings on two city blocks.

The volunteers at the shop collect items from all over the community and sometimes go further to pick up donations, Moseley said.

Moseley was one of the shop’s first volunteers when it began 10 years ago.

Only Moseley and Bush have volunteered regularly since the shop began.

While most of the other volunteers are of retirement age, the shop is connected with the county judicial system and they get people, even teens, who have been sentenced to work community service, Bush said.

“A lot of these people have not been exposed to this kind of love,” Bush said. “They realize that life is not about ‘me.’”

Moseley echoed similar comments.

“If someone wants to have a full life, getting out and giving back to the community is the best way to achieve one,” Moseley said. “It has been the most gratifying experience of my life.”

Locally, the shop is involved with helping schools, libraries and senior services, among other activities. This includes a program that awards student progress at Fort White Elementary School.

Each year, teachers can choose any student from their class for any reason to receive an award and a check for $25, Moseley said. They also award one fifth-grader the Principal’s Award along with a $50 check.

Nationally, the shop helps disaster areas, non-profit organizations and medical institutes.

In the past, they have stocked trailers full of supplies for disaster teams going to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They also have donated money and supplies to non-profit religious and medical organizations all over the country, according to Moseley.

Internationally, the shop has donated to multiple mission trips and international medical groups in need of supplies and funds, such as Doctors Without Borders.

They are currently preparing supplies to send with a mission to Nicaragua, Moseley said.

“We try to find a home for everything,” she said.

According to Bush, the shop is so successful because everyone working there is volunteering, even the board of directors, and because they are led by the Holy Spirit.

“I’m reminded of a song that says ‘Help somebody today, help somebody along life’s way,’ and that’s what we do,” Bush said.