Year of New Beginnings for Richland Thrift Shop
By Michelle Dupler, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
Apr. 17–You can find a lot of bargains sorting through the $1.50 clothing racks and rows of 50-cent shoes for sale at New Beginnings Thrift Shop in Richland.
But the shop’s real treasure lies in the community spirit embraced by manager Linda Graves and her staff.
New Beginnings opened one year ago today as a fundraiser for the Tri-Cities Pregnancy Network, a local organization that promotes abstinence education and alternatives to abortion, and gives expectant and new mothers in crisis help to cope with the economic and spiritual demands of parenthood.
“For me personally, it’s a religious issue,” Graves said of her support for the network. “I believe an unborn child is a child created in God’s image from conception and should be protected.”
But her support also stems from having seen the real stories of women who found themselves pregnant with no family, no money and no support — the teenage girls kicked out of their homes, or the women whose boyfriends turned abusive when they became pregnant.
She said she finds it comforting that the network continues to offer support to women after a baby is born.
The network doesn’t own or manage the shop, but all of the profits are donated to the network to support its activities. Graves said it amounts to more than $1,000 per month.
“It doesn’t constitute a big percentage of our income, but we know that we can count on that,” said Laura Christopherson, executive director of the network. “It gives us a base to work with.”
Graves got involved with the network in late 2003 when her church asked her to be a liaison with the crisis pregnancy center.
The next year she had a rummage sale in her front yard and raised about $400. In 2005, the rummage sale moved to the thrift shop’s current location on Lee Boulevard and Graves raised about $10,000, including $5,000 for a car someone had donated.
Graves said the center bought an ultrasound machine with the money.
Another rummage sale in 2006 brought in about $5,000. But Graves started to wonder about the possibilities of a year-round rummage sale, and the thrift shop was born.
She opened the doors at New Beginnings on April 17, 2007, and immediately started turning a profit, thanks to nearly zero rent charged by the building owners.
The shop since has branched out to give aid to nearly 30 community nonprofits and their clients.
For example, the shop collects clothing donations for Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin Counties, and the agency gives its clients vouchers they can use to go get clothes, dishes, or anything else they might need to set up a new home.
And every Thursday, food donations are brought to the shop and later distributed to clients of Lourdes Medical Center who are in need.
And help isn’t limited to humans. The shop gives old sheets, blankets, leashes and collars to A Paw Up Rescue in Prosser.
But sometimes, the help offered can be as simple as Graves telling a person who walks in off the street with a cold child and no money that they can have a coat for free.
“Our mission statement is that we’re ‘established to share Christ’s love in a practical way with those in need in our community,’ ” she said. “I can’t say I love somebody if I see they’re hurting and they need something and I do nothing for them.”
New Beginnings is at 1016 Lee Blvd., Richland. The shop is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
All clothing and household goods will be half-price Friday and Saturday for the store’s anniversary celebration.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
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