Parish News

By Tomi Blackburn

The title of this article sounds like a riddle or a joke, but it’s no laughing matter that without many non-Episcopal “Friends,” Good Shepherd Thrift Shop wouldn’t be open for business five days a week because of a lack of volunteers. In its early history, only members of Church of the Good Shepherd worked in the store. But now this enterprise would really be history if it weren’t for the help of our non-Episcopal friends. Here’s a heartfelt salute to those Friends of Good Shepherd who make a weekly commitment to help our outreach mission in the community and in Santa Maria, Honduras.

Helen Nelligan started working at the thrift shop in 1997, recruited by Betty Williford. Until recently, Helen was a fulltime resident at Nalcrest, but for the past five years she has spent the summer with her daughter in New York. When Helen returns in September, she will resume her volunteer duties on Thursday afternoon with Betty, Theresa Ryland,and Jo Whidden.

Almost every shift at the thrift shop is completed by a Friend of Good Shepherd. Rose Seymour, Fred Ladika, and Luana Vieth help on Monday. Delores Curphey joins herneighbors, Joanne Totten and Lila Clifton, on Tuesday, withPatsy Draper. Saturday morning, Johanna Buscher helps Bob Waring and a variety of volunteers who substitute for Rich and Wendy Schwendler while they’re gone for the summer.

Joann O’Connor began her relationship with us as a customer, then began attending church and volunteered to help. Joann works Thursday morning with Paula Templeton and Raymond LaRochelle, who’s participating in the AARP Foundation Senior Community Service Employment Program. Ray works eighteen hours a week in a work-training program with no cost to Good Shepherd.

In scheduling volunteers, the goal is to have three or four people assigned to every three hour shift. It’s store policy that at least two volunteers must be present during business hours, or the shop closes. With an increasing amount of shoppers, three people are really needed to adequately operate the store, but two is the absolute necessity. Without Friends of Good Shepherd and their weekly commitment, some days the store wouldn’t be open for business. Closed, no donations, no dollars. An excellent example of this scenario is Friday morning.

Art and Barb Marksbury, Ada Ash and Raymond LaRochelle take care of business at the thrift shop on Friday.

Art and Barb live in Saddlebag Lake Resort, attend its Community Church, and came to the rescue last spring when help was desperately needed. In June, Ada was shopping in the store and volunteered to work each Friday. The Episcopal Thrift Shop stays open from 9:00 AM to noon on Friday because four people, who don’t attend the Church ofthe Good Shepherd, are willing to make a weekly commitment to help us.

So, how many Episcopalians does it take to run our thriftshop? Not enough.

Currently, all store shifts are staffed by a dedicated team of volunteers, including Father Tom Seitz, who has worked on Monday afternoon since Autumn 2005. But it’s important to acknowledge, with gratitude, that there are many Friends who share our mission without sharing a church pew at Good Shepherd on Sunday.