The Episcopal Thrift Shop has become a fixture in Amherst, notable for its cheerful staff and its window decorations, as well as the real bargains to be had there.  The people of Ascension and St. Mark's churches can justifiably be proud of the accomplishment, but it really needs to be recorded for for the future.  Fortunately, Russ Law, a pivotal figure in establishing the shop, could be prevailed on to write a history of the effort; his chronicle, with minor editing, appears below.

The Episcopal Thrift Shop, by Russell Law
       It all began in 1990 or perhaps 1988.  Randall Sartin was the rector of the yoked churches – St. Mark’s in Clifford and Ascension in Amherst.  He suggested from the pulpit and otherwise that some sort of Thrift Shop should be established which would provide good but used merchandise at bargain prices to the poor people in our area while providing a happy alternative to putting serviceable but no longer needed goods into the landfill.  For many months, Mr. Sartin’s suggestion fell on deaf ears.  Probably St. Mark’s entire congregation recognized that such a shop – if it were to thrive – would have to be located in the town of Amherst.  Therefore, they seemed to reason, Ascension Church in Amherst should take the lead in this matter.  The minister’s repeated calls continued to go unanswered.  It was clearly a good idea, but just as clearly, it would never work - Why, it had never been done here!  But Sartin was optimistic. 
    Perhaps because retirement was just around the corner, perhaps because of a knee-jerk reaction that encouraged following a minister’s lead, or just a strange juxtaposition of the stars, St. Mark’s member Russell Law began to look at parcels of real estate in Amherst that were for rent.  Two or three places offered adequate space – about 600 square feet; a building 15’ by 40’ was thought to be sufficient.  All of these properties were in want of repair, and the owners seemed uncertain about renting the spaces.  While walking the few streets of Amherst searching for available space, Russ came upon the large Schewel’s building at the prominent corner of Main Street and Second Street appeared.  Two quite large display windows were dressed to display Schewel’s furniture store offerings.  But the doors were locked; the interior appeared dark, as if it were unused.  Inquiring at the Schewel’s store, it was learned that the first floor – except for the windows – was indeed unused; the second floor was Schewel’s warehouse.  Elliot Schewel was identified as the manager of the property.  (Mr. Schewel is a member of a prominent Lynchburg family and for years represented Central Virginia well as a State Senator.) 
    Happily, Russ was acquainted with Mr. Schewel, and he promptly called upon him.  Mr. Schewel, a generous and philanthropic man, agreed to rent the entire first floor for the Thrift Shop.  There has never been a lease, just a hand shake and a short letter of agreement.  We were given immediate occupancy of the space, but the payment of the $75/mo rent was not to begin until the shop opened.  The shop was an ecumenical effort from its birth.  Mr. Sartin had sold his idea to a parishioner, who had then sold it to Mr. Schewel.  Now the task was to convince both congregations on proceeding. The space had been unused for many years, and it was dirty!  Paint was falling off the walls.  The backdrops for the store windows prevented any light from entering the space.  We rented our part of the building with the understanding that there was no heat and no water, although a lavatory existed.  Nor was there air conditioning – but who worried about that in January?  The space is huge – 5,500 square feet. 
    Although many seriously doubted that the proposed store would succeed, it seemed that everyone in each church joined in the dirty, messy job of cleaning up, scraping, and painting.  With heroic effort, the back walls for the show windows were unfastened from the raised floor, and each of those two walls was carried, intact, 20 feet or so toward the back of the store.  Thus our space was divided into two parts.  Surely the front part would be adequate for our purposes, it was thought.  Mighty was the clean up effort.  Martha Brown distinguished herself in that she almost single-handedly cleaned under the raised floors of the store window platforms.  This required crawling into the dirty, poorly lit space with who-knew-what sort of creatures living there.  The scraping of the masonry walls produced great quantities of spider webs and old paint yielded to the scrapers’ tools.  Many participated happily in this dusty work.  Then came painting, done by many.  Mary Langstaff – almost blind – painted with the best of them, and did her full share.  All of this was a large undertaking by a great many people, enthusiastically working together for a cause that, a few weeks earlier, was thought by many to have little chance of success.  Seeing the space restored brought the certainty of success to all. 
    While this work was being done, others were endeavoring to get ancient fluorescent lighting fixtures to work (Oh, Those lights are so high above the floor!)  The existing wiring made little sense and was in disrepair.  Under the leadership of St. Mark’s’ David Townsend as electrician, the lights were made to work.  The new wiring was even better than the old, and how grand it was to have good light!  St. Mark’s’ Frances Butler unhesitatingly took on the task of cleaning the remarkably rusty and dirty commode and sink.  That done, the water was turned on by the town and everything worked!  It was a happy day when we no longer had to impose on the restroom facilities of the Courtside Café whenever one needed to visit a lavatory!  (But to this day, there is no hot water.) 
Remarkably, the oil furnace was brought back to life after its firebox was repaired.  Ducting was added to bring heat to all parts of the store.  Air conditioning was not added until late spring.  It should be noted that many projects – the fixing of the toilet, of the furnace, some of the electrical work – did not happen by opening day.  Ours was an on-going project. 
    As the clean-up, fix-up efforts were well underway, articles appeared in the paper soliciting donations of clothes, furniture, and useful cast-offs.  Every manner of clothing, bedding and furniture soon started to arrive at the shop.  Even the proverbial kitchen sink came.  Iron pipes were brought in from every corner to become clothes rods, secured on the building’s antique wooden columns.  Racks for clothing were constructed.  Shiny, “store-bought” clothes racks were borrowed or given to us – especially from Amanda DeColgny’s ‘Smandas, and an Appomattox store that closed and gave away its fixtures.  In no time at all and before our opening, it became clear that we would have to use the entire 5,500 square feet.  How fortunate that the 600 square foot space was never found! Fortunate too that the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia lent us $600 in start-up funds to augment the few dollars offered by both churches.  (The loan from the Diocese was repaid before the end of the first month of operation.)  The work of making the place presentable was performed by a large group of willing and enthusiastic members from both congregations.  When order was brought about, the job of stocking became the project of the moment.  All of this “stuff” kept appearing- it was as if all of Amherst County had been saving up for years for our shop.  Donations came from every corner, and so did volunteers.  Almost always it has been that at least one worker has been from another or no denomination.  The time for opening – Feb. 1, 1991 – was fast approaching.  It became clear that generally we needed people to determine and mark the price of each item for sale, people to stock that which had been priced, people to operate the cash register, and a person to serve as treasurer.  This latter job was handled for years by St. Mark’s’ Pat Hudson and at this writing by Ascension’s Ben Smith.  Volunteers were easily found and we were ready to open on time – Feb. 1, 1991.  The evening before the store opened, both congregations were invited to a respectably lavish finger food dinner in the Thrift Shop, and to view the work that had been done.  Attendees had the privilege of buying anything in the store for double its marked price.  It was not until 2005 that the store had a week that grossed so much as in the first week. 
    Never have we experienced a shortage of donations.  Many customers who came that first week continue to be regular shoppers.  That the shop filled a need has been made evident by our success.  Our management system was clearly laissez faire.  Occasional slowness and inaccuracies at the cash register were found and corrected, and customers did not complain when something went amiss and they had a bit of a wait.  If supplies were needed, a volunteer would buy them, give a receipt for the purchase to the cashier, who would refund the expense and destroy the receipt.  No bookkeeping here!  Customers’ appreciation of the Shop was made clear when Edith Law placed a big jug by the checkout counter, upon which was printed “Donations”.  Consistent cash donations attest to customer appreciation of the Shop, and its volunteers and are a confirmation of the Thrift Shop’s bargain prices. 
    For many years, the shop was open only from 9 until 2 on Fridays and Saturdays.  (Recently, Thursday was added and hours were extended until 3 PM.)  Many volunteered to work both days – its joyful atmosphere made it fun to be at the Thrift Shop.  Often, donations had to be picked up and received all though the week.  It became clear that we could afford and we needed a paid person to manage the shop.  Ascension’s Mrs. James (Betty) Huber was an experienced and willing candidate for the job, and the Thrift Shop was fortunate to have her happy personality as the shop’s manager for a decade. 
    (About the worth of the Thrift Shop to the community, consider this hypothetical example:  Men’s business shirts sell for $1.00 at the Shop.  It costs nothing but a share of the overhead expenses.  The shirt is in excellent condition and would cost at least $9.00 at a regular store.  So, the shirt is worth $9.00 to the buyer, the shirt has no significant cost to the shop, so there is a profit of $1.00 which will be given to outreach.  The $1.00 sale then has a value, then, of $10.00.  If the shop has $40,000 in sales in a year, the community gets $400,000 in value.  It is no wonder that Thrift Shop people are so enthusiastic about what they do.  What is a wonder is that it didn’t happen a lot sooner.) 
    When the shop was conceived, so were some basic rules of operation.  The first “rule” is that no proceeds go to any specifically Episcopal endeavor.  It was not thought to be fair to church members to be free from the cost and joy of discipleship that belonged to the members.  It would be poor stewardship to put on the backs of our customers the tending of our own responsibilities.  Thus, all proceeds go to non-Episcopal oriented outreach.  Another rule was that we would sell only attractive merchandise (no buttons missing, no broken zippers, and no broken furniture, by way of examples).  And for every customer, we had a free smile.  If something should fail to work or otherwise be unsuitable, the customer would immediately be credited with the cost of the item. 
    Every volunteer is valuable.  Some are especially valuable.  Betty invited a group of Special Education students to come and help.  They liked coming and they liked Betty.  They could clean the floors and other such duties as their talents would allow.  Betty praised them but still required them to perform adequately.  At the end of their weekly time with us, Betty would tell each one they could buy something worth a varying number of dollars for free.  They would gleefully go to fetch something that they had spied earlier.  They were valued helpers and this was another ministry of the Thrift Shop.  Then, there were the home schooled children.  Quiet, efficient, sweet and competent – these are wonderful people.  They are great examples of why colleges seek them as students.  These young people are a great help to our shop.  We hope the experience has been valuable to them.  Mrs. John (Suzy) Shimp is the mother of some of the home schoolers.  As some of her children went off to college, she wanted to try to replace Betty Huber when she left to move to Bedford County, and she had Thrift Shop experience.  Eventually, her remaining home schooling responsibilities made it necessary to leave the Thrift Shop.  She left her charming mark on the shop and is missed. 
    Another member of Ascension Church was ready for a more comprehensive retailing opportunity.  Alice Muriel Morse had good retailing experience and wanted to work in the shop.  She brought to the operation a new streamlined approach: for example, every not-brand-new dress shirt is $1.  There is no need to put a price tag on it for the cashier will know the various standard prices.  The new system avoided the risk of customers changing prices and it drastically reduced the number of volunteer workers that are needed in the pricing area.  Also, Alice Muriel has arranged that more cash donations are made directly to individuals in need than to organizations that work to serve those in need.  Originally, the shop proceeds were split equally between the two churches.  The Vestries would dispense the funds.  (Sometimes both churches would fund the same charity.)  Subsequently, a committee of folks from each church would make preliminary decisions about the spending of the combined Vestries’ funds, giving final authority to the two Vestries.  Currently, when the shop manager learns from a clergy person or from Social Services of an acute need, she will notify the chairman, who will poll the committee as to how to handle the request.  If a majority wishes to fill the cash requested, the treasurer is notified and he draws the requested check.  The Vestries then approve of the action, or give guidelines for future action in like situations.  Not more than 20% of donations may go to those outside the county who do not serve Amherst County residents.  After 14 years, the Thrift Shop is alive and well.  It has been a source of joy for its volunteers, financial benefit to its customers of perhaps, millions of dollars.  It is a source of pride for every member of each church.  Randall Sartin should be pleased. 

September 8, 2005