By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
When Reba Tipton felt the first chill of winter, she knew exactly where to go to ward off the frigid cold that would be setting in for the next few months. She went to the Deacons’ Shop, at First Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green.
A self-described “regular” at the shop, Tipton knows she can find items to keep out the cold. And she doesn’t have to cringe over the price tag. Everything is free.
“I never know what I’m going to run into. There’s always something. It’s a wonderful place,” she said.
On this particular Thursday, Tipton, of Bowling Green, found a quilt and sweatshirt.
“I’m starting to get chilled,” she explained.
Beth Dipillo, of Rudolph, found a couple shirts since most of her old clothes no longer fit.
“It does help. They’ve been very gracious with everything. I can’t afford to go out and buy a new wardrobe,” she said. “They’ve helped me in many ways.”
Jenny Huling, of Bowling Green, turns to the Deacons’ Shop when her grandchildren need something.
“I’ve got five grandchildren and one on the way,” Huling said as she picked out a pair of children’s pajamas and a hand-knitted hat. “It is very helpful. They have very nice things.”
And Kerrie Olea, of Bowling Green, who is expecting a baby girl, was thrilled to find swaddling blankets at the shop.
While many businesses and organizations accept used clothing to sell at reduced rates, First Presbyterian’s Deacons’ Shop is a rarity – operating year-round, and giving away everything they have been given for free. It is open on Thursdays, from 9:30 to 11 a.m., in the church at 126 S. Church St., Bowling Green.
There are casual clothes and business suits. There are coats, hats and gloves. And there are shoes, boots and purses.
“Sometimes we get good quality stuff,” said Susan Dunn, who volunteers at the Deacons’ Shop.
Thumbing through one rack found the clothing brands Gap, Eddie Bauer, Talbots and London Fog.
Some “shoppers” leave with one item, some with a bagful.
Linda Reynolds is the bagful kind of shopper.
On this specific Thursday, she was taking home warm pajamas, shoes, socks, underwear, a couple blouses and a couple sweaters.
“I come here practically every week,” Reynolds said.
Her “chauffeur” each week agreed.
“I’m her Uber driver,” said Dave Horger, who also volunteers at the Deacons’ Shop.
“I don’t think you’ve missed a day in the last five years,” he said jokingly to Reynolds.
Horger’s job at the shop is discovering the hard-to-find sizes on men’s pants, then posting the sizes with masking tape on the outside of the pants. He estimated he’s sized “a few thousand over the last several years.”
Others from the church who volunteer each week at the Deacons’ Shop are Susan Dunn, Peggy Brigham and Doretta Schmidt.
The shop is feeling the pinch of there being more locations for people to discard good used clothing.
“There are so many places now to take stuff,” Dunn said. But this is the only place where items are returned to the community at no cost. The shop has seen a drop in donated winter coats and adult gloves – but still get a lot of requests for those items.
“We always need kids’ clothes, too,” Dunn said.
The Deacons’ Shop is sometimes called on to help clothe families who lose their belongings to house fires, Schmidt said.
“I enjoy doing it. It’s just my way of contributing,” she said, with her primary job being tidying up when the shop closes each week. “When we close, I do the straightening.”
The job has a way of creating long-term volunteers – like Janet DeLong, who was head of the Deacons’ Shop for 13 years.
“I just really enjoyed it,” she said. “I knew it was making a difference for people.”
Items to be donated to the Deacons’ Shop may be dropped off on a cart located outside the church office during regular work hours on Tuesdays through Fridays.
