At the downtown fashion show Roma Rhodes, far left,
describes the items worn by Kayla Geiger (with Jaiden Papik behind) and to the
right are Evelyn Michl and Glenda Starkey.
Walking the runway
are Kayla Geiger (right) and Jaiden Papik (left) at the Exeter United Methodist
Garment Gadget Giveaway store.
On their opening weekend the Exeter United Methodist Church Garment Gadget Giveaway Store held a Fashion Show complete
with a main street runaway to show the variety and quality of items available
in their shop.
One of the coordinators, Roma Rhodes, noted the sheer
quantity of items that the store opened with this year. “We have a lot of
great stuff, and I mean some good stuff. I was gone for an hour earlier and it
was great to come back and see the store full of people.”
What is unusual about the thrift store is that everything is
free. Absolutely free, no questions asked, take what you can use.
Last year the church was looking for some opportunities to serve the community
and decided that this giveaway store in the summer could fill in the gap of the
food backpack program that they coordinate during the school year.
They have added a small food pantry along with a school
supply section this year to help bridge the gap over the summer and maybe
supply some school items for those who need them. The ladies in the
congregation volunteer their time to work a weekend or whenever they can to
keep the store open.
Fortunately their overhead for the store is low, they have a
donation jar, but it helps cover their electricity costs as the building use
was donated by Exeter building owner, Doug Anderson.
To open their store this year they held a fashion show with
models from all over the state and nation (as far away as Washington State) to
model some of the ”one of the kind” items found in the store. Rhodes, who
was the MC for the fashion show reminded the audience “once these items are
gone, they are gone.”
The store, which is open on Friday’s and Saturday’s from 9 –
noon through August 11. The store welcomes donations and shoppers during
their open hours and are located on main street in Exeter across the street
from First National Bank. At the store close, they will again donate the
clothes to Country Neighbors in Beaver Crossing where the proceeds from the
clothes that are sold will go to fund breast cancer research in Nebraska.
