Amelia Thrift Store's mission keeps growing
We received an update from Mike Davis, pastor of two churches that have engaged in Risk-Taking Mission in Amelia County, Va. Last year we posted a story that originally appeared in the Virginia United Methodist Advocate, highlighting how the ministry got started. Their work has resulted in more than $20,000 given to community assistance organizations, and now stretches outside the county and across state lines. Read on for the Rev. Davis' letter:
January 23, 2010—It’s an appropriate day to update the story of the Amelia Thrift Store. Today we had the grand opening of Amelia Thrift Store Too!, our second location.
God has certainly been at work in Amelia County, Va. Jetersville and Salem United Methodist Churches are small congregations, each with worship attendance averaging between 30 and 50 people. In 2008, between 15 and 20 people from these churches combined for a 15-week study of Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. The idea of Risk-Taking Mission really spoke to them.
After several weeks of praying for guidance, the group agreed that their mission outreach would be a thrift store. It was risk-taking because we had no money, yet we planned to be open five days a week for six hours each day—a big risk with only a dozen people. We agreed that we would sell donated items, the only workers in the store would be “unpaid servants,” and all of our profits would go back into the community.
As the original article explains, through Extravagant Generosity the two small congregations gave $10,000 as seed money for the project. We had a “soft opening” in February 2009, with a grand opening in March. It’s a small store—about 1,200 square feet—close to the only stop light in Amelia. Once open, our great concerns were getting enough donations and servants.
We began with a good flow of donations, expecting things to slow down after a month or two. We struggled to get enough servants at times, but we were able to staff the store.
Rather than tapering off, donations have increased. People arrive daily with trucks and vans full of used but sellable stuff. We now have over 85 servants who work there, many from other churches throughout the community, of all ages and races, ranging from 12 to 80 years old.
We decided to focus on giving our proceeds to organizations that served the needy in the community. There are several food banks and other community service centers in the Amelia area, and in the first nine months of operation, we were able to give these organizations more than $20,000 and cover all of the store’s own operating expenses.
One of the greatest things about the Amelia Thrift Store is how God has worked through the people to affect the entire community. The editor and owner of the local paper, The Amelia Monitor, shared with me her thoughts last fall. She said that the store has changed the entire community—that she has seen more people and businesses stand up and give. She said that the example set by the store changed the hearts of many people, and that a new attitude is spreading in the community: “If those little churches can help the community, then we can too!” The change toward helping the poor is unlike anything she’s seen in her nearly 30 years living here.
In the fall, three for-profit thrift stores opened in Amelia, and we feared that our donations would dry up. Instead, we opened our second store with 2,000 square feet of sales space and 1,000 square feet of loading dock and storage space. We’re already considering renting the other half of that building for an additional 3,000 square feet of sales space, because our storage space is packed with new donations!
In November 2008, when twelve people voted to begin this project, we placed all of it into the hands of the Holy Spirit. We prayed that it would take us places we could not imagine. That has happened. On January 23, 2010, about three hundred people attended the grand opening of our second location.
We began as a local mission. Next, we gave some of our abundance to United Methodist mission works in the nearby towns of Hurt and Clover, Va. Now, we are sending loads of clothes, blankets and more to the Jubilee Project in Tennessee, where some of the poorest people in the nation live.
All this began with a study of Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. There is no limit to what God can do. If you don’t believe it, come to Amelia County and see the Amelia Thrift Store.
Rev. Michael T. Davis
Pastor, North Amelia Charge, Farmville District
1. Mae Leader wrote on 2/1/2010 3:22:23 PM
This is a story that needs to be told and shown in all of our churches. Our church, too, had a small group of people who acted in faith and started a Thrift Shop, but through the years has lost sight of the original purpose which was to enlarge their mission giving. The lesson that the more you give , the more you receive, is being missed and it is my belief that it is stunting the growth of our church.
2. Patricia N. Bianco wrote on 7/28/2010 1:43:59 PM
Hello, My daughter-in-law and I are planning a yard sale the weekend of August 13th. I had a couple of question's regarding your Thrift store.
1. I heard that you take donation's and give them away to those who need them. I think this is great if this actually is true. I would much rather donate things to a store who does not profit from selling donated items.
2. Once our yard sale is over do you'all have a pick-up service for the items that does not sell?
3. Also, are there items that you do not accept?
Thank you for your help.
Patricia Bianco and
Michelle Wilson
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