Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Winter coats. Men's suits. Women's sweaters and slacks. Shoes in all styles and sizes. Toys. Books. And knickknacks to suit any collector.
Like any gently used, second-time-around store, the Methodist Thrift Shop at the corner of Ind. 13 (Huntington Street) and Carroll Street has something for everyone - and then some.
On Sunday the enterprise celebrates its 40th anniversary with a reception at the church following services around 11:30 a.m.
Established in 1962 to raise money for Syracuse Methodist Church - now St. Andrews United Methodist Church - furnishings, the business has thrived.
Open two days each week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, the thrift shop has paid for two mortgages - that of the church parsonage and that of the former Sinclair filling station where it is housed.
Proceeds paid for new kitchen cabinets, fellowship hall tables and chairs, equipment, landscaping, curtains and carpeting in St. Andrews.
In the early part of the 1990s the shop commissioned replacement of the church's 13 stained glass windows.
While the early years of operation focused on furnishing the church, the Methodist Thrift Shop committee's generosity doesn't stop on the grounds of St. Andrew's.
Organizations benefiting from the shop's donations include: Lakeland Community Concerned Citizens Drug Education Committee; Lakeland Community Nursery School; the Wawasee High School Literacy Program; Sounds of Hope; the Navajo Christian Foundation, Arizona; Eden Children's Village in Zimbabwe; the Oakwood Foundation for the Pioneer House; Syracuse-Wawasee Rotary Club; American Red Cross; the Cardinal Center; Goodwill; Salvation Army; Mennonite Relief; and many others.
And nickels, dimes and quarters made it all possible.
For the last four decades committee members have taken in just about anything people have tired of, except furniture, first at 101 E. Pearl St. in the former Bushong Beauty Shop, then in a house at 131 W. Pearl and now at the current location.
"This is a godsend to some people," said long-time marking committee member Mirriam Ridings of the $1 dresses for girls and women and $2 men's suits.
The marking committee, chaired by Theda Cutter, meets Tuesday mornings. A stuffed outdoor collection box always greets the women when they come in the door.
Each woman specializes in something - bedding, kitchen utensils, books and magazines.
This week a table with an Easter theme has been established with stuffed bunnies and baskets.
Items are rotated on a regular basis and if something doesn't sell in a few weeks it's off to the Salvation Army or Goodwill for recycling.
Each woman has other areas of expertise, too - like minor sewing or painting repairs. Others take home things to be laundered.
When she arrived, Cutter pulled out a shining stainless steel teapot from a paper bag she'd taken home to polish.
"What do you think, girls?" she asked. Everyone agreed it was a sellable item now and not the dingy, neglected piece that had arrived just that morning.
They've developed an eye for re-retail. Some things are just too dirty, torn or old to put on the tables and shelves. A large dumpster is emptied of rejects each week.
When the doors open at 10 a.m. Friday there is always a line of regular customers waiting to buy the latest items.
St. Andrews' minister, the Rev. Mike Butler, has served the church for just a year.
"Their faithfulness to the dream and vision they had 40 years ago has been incredible," he said.
Committee members include: chairwoman Jeanne Jones, since 1962; vice chairwoman Vera Hall, since 1992; secretary Roberta Pittman, since 1981; Jo Ann Robinson, since 1996; marking chairwoman Theda Cutter, since 1966; assistant marking chairwoman Miriam Ridings, since 1994; schedule chairwoman Mary Fisher, since 1977; Jean Koher, since 1994; Lois Allen, since 1972; Thelma Brinkman, 1968; Doris Coburn, since 2000; Gloria Frew, since 1998; Jan Keim, since 1994; Lera Reinholt, since 1998; and Lois Walbridge, since 1994.
