New St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Richmond ‘is a place where God dwells’

Elizabeth Daoud, left, MeKenzie McDonald, Kaydence Burkhardt and Lillian Thomas, all seniors at Seton Catholic High School in Richmond, help prepare Good Samaritan Center in Richmond for its opening on March 21. (Submitted photo by Dan Reichley)

By Natalie Hoefer

The goal started simply enough: find a building to store furniture donated to the Tri-County Good Samaritan St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVdP) conference.

But the end result is so much more.

On March 21, the conference will open the doors to its new Good Samaritan Center thrift store in Richmond, where the public can shop for furniture, clothing and more, and those assisted by SVdP can use “credit” for items based on need.

“How it panned out was really divine,” conference president Tony Talbert says of the store.

From the building’s location just a block from the conference’s David’s House outreach center in Richmond, to its size that “fits us like a glove,” to raising the purchase amount in less than a week, Talbert says everything “just fell into place. It was meant to be.”

The thrift store is a new addition to the many ways the conference—with members from St. Bridget of Ireland Parish in Liberty, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Richmond and St. Gabriel Parish in Connersville—helps those in need in Fayette, Union and Wayne counties.

Profits from the store will be used to support the conference’s existing programs and, in time, provide funding for new programs.

The story begins with a multi-parish furniture ministry some 20 years ago before the conference existed.

‘Something told me to look in the door’

The ministry was a combined outreach of the three Richmond parishes that were later merged to become St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 2016. St. Elizabeth parishioner Dan Reichley joined the ministry about eight years ago.

“We would go out about every weekend to collect furniture that people or organizations told us they wanted to donate,” he says. “We had people [in need] sign up to come in every other week and tried to match [items] with their needs. I had a feeling the ministry could become something more.”

Reichley recalls one morning when Talbert, a member of St. Bridget, approached him about merging the furniture outreach with the Tri-County Good Samaritan SVdP conference.

“Once we joined with St. Vincent de Paul, it allowed [the ministry] to grow,” he says.

At that time, the donated furniture was stored at the former Richmond State Hospital.

“The rent was free,” says Reichley. “But the building was condemned, there were no bathrooms, no heat, no water, little light, and it was kind of far and inconvenient for people to get to.”

A few years ago, the ministry moved, renting space in a building closer to downtown Richmond. The new home base was short-lived.

“We were there about two years when a new tenant came along and we had to be out in 30 days,” says Reichley. “We scattered our inventory over several places.”

When the lease ended last summer, Talbert decided the conference needed to buy a building “so we don’t have to move again.”

There was a larger motive, too.

“When we do home visits [with those who contact SVdP for assistance], we talk with them about sources of help so we can help them budget-wise,” he explains. “We decided we really felt passionate about helping people help themselves, and a thrift store is our resource to do that.”

Later last summer, Talbert walked by a church-run thrift store located a block from David’s House.

“Something told me to look in the door,” he recalls. “It was empty. I didn’t know they closed.”

He contacted the church that owned the 7,300-square-foot building and was told it was not for sale. When he explained the conference’s mission and how the building would be used, the owner agreed to sell it.

“The price was too high, so I negotiated it down to $280,000,” says Talbert. “But we had no money.”

The SVdP Indianapolis council offered to loan the money, he says.

As it turns out, the loan was not necessary.

‘It’s been an unbelievable blessing’

Shortly after Talbert struck a deal on the building, three priests visited David’s House. Among them was Jesuit Father Joseph Kraemer, who grew up in the former St. Andrew Parish in Richmond—now a campus of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton—and serves in the order’s West Province.

Talbert shared with the priests about the thrift store the conference dreamed of opening and the building it hoped to purchase.

“That weekend, Father Joe mentioned our plan when he preached at all three parishes” that make up the Tri-County Good Samaritan conference, he says.

“In six days, we had enough money to buy the building. By word of mouth, we ended up getting $319,000, so we have money in reserve for an HVAC [system] and to buy fixtures for the thrift store.

“It’s been an unbelievable blessing. We were [without a space for furniture] in July, and by about the first of September we had money and the building. We never had to borrow a penny. It floored me.”

The furniture ministry resumed operations in its new home in October. Meanwhile, members from the SVdP Indianapolis council and its Mission 27 re-sale shops offered advice and ideas on thrift store operations.

As Talbert describes the store, top on his list are the spiritual aspects.

“The first thing people will see when they walk in is a large crucifix,” says Talbert. “We’ll have paper for people to write down prayer intentions and put them in a jar, and at the end of each day our volunteers will pray for those intentions.”

The store will have a 20-by-20-foot corner for religious items like Bibles, books and rosaries—“not plastic ones but really nice ones”—made from classes taught at David’s House by a St. Gabriel parishioner, says Talbert.

There is also a room set aside for a food store.

“We’ll have homemade soup, jelly, spice mixes and bakery goods prepared by Seton [Catholic] High School students that go through a culinary program” taught in the commercial-grade kitchen at David’s House, he adds.

“Now when our volunteers do home visits, we’re going to give [those visited, referred to as ‘neighbors’] credit to the thrift store depending on the size of the family and their need, so they can get clothes, furniture and, when we get the food side operating, they can get that as well.”

Providing furniture, clothing and food might sound like a handout.

On the contrary, Talbert says the “concept of the thrift store is that it’s one more program we offer to help people enhance their lives.”

‘It’s a place where God dwells’

There are two types of charity, Talbert says, each with a different message.

“When people are just given things, the message we give is, ‘You can’t do this, so we’re going to do it for you,’ ” he explains. “Our message is, ‘You can do this, but we’ll walk with you.’ When a pair of our volunteers go on a home visit, they will offer to stick with the person or family to help them meet their short- and long-term goals.”

If the offer is accepted, the volunteers connect them with classes. Some are offered at David’s House, such as a class teaching how to cook healthy meals on a budget. Parenting and budgeting classes are offered by partnering organizations in Richmond.

“Home visits, parenting classes, budgeting—any program a neighbor completes, they will receive additional shopping credit at our thrift store for kids’ beds, clothing, housewares and so on,” says Talbert.

Offering so many “hand-up, not hand-out” programs takes time and devotion from the Tri-County Good Samaritan conference’s 30 volunteers, he notes.

“But the support we get from our pastors, parishes and the community is just mind-blowing,” Talbert adds.

For instance, Father Sengole Gnanaraj, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, blessed the Good Samaritan Center last December. And students from Seton Catholic High School—where Reichley teaches courses in math, science and theology—have helped move furniture into the building and volunteered getting the thrift store ready for its March 21 opening.

“It’s not just a thrift store,” Talbert clarifies. “It’s a place where God dwells, where God is encountered in each person. That’s what will distinguish us from every other thrift store, that it’s a place not of shopping but of helping.”

Reichley agrees, calling the Good Samaritan Center a place “where it’s not just a transaction but an interaction. With interactions we can hopefully open up people’s minds to higher things, not just material things.

“The mission of St. Vincent de Paul is to grow in holiness through works of charity,” he explains. “We have to remember it’s not about giving people material things but about seeking our holiness, and God asks us to seek holiness with others.”

Initially, the Good Samaritan Center will be open each week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, “and we’ll expand from there,” says Talbert.

“None of us has ever run a thrift store,” he notes. “But we know this is God’s plan. We trust in his guidance and know he’ll take us where we need to go.”
 

(The Good Samaritan Center is located at 440 S. 9th St. in Richmond. For more information on the programs offered by the Tri-County Good Samaritan St. Vincent de Paul conference, go to svdptricounty.us.) †