Ledger-Dispatch

By Jerry Budrick (jbudrick@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

From left, Interfaith Food Bank = Director Kathleen=20 Harmon, Rev. Mike Kerrick and Trinity Treasures (soon to be Great = Finds)=20 Thrift Shop volunteers Joy Blair, Carol Holt, Marta Rowe and = Barbara=20 Kepner are all smiles about the store's new venture to benefit the = food=20 bank.

Photo by: Jerry=20 Budrick
In this season of giving, this gift = takes=20 the cake: Trinity Episcopal Church of Sutter Creek is giving its entire = thrift=20 store, Trinity Treasures, lock, stock and barrel, to the Interfaith Food = Bank.

The food bank, in turn, intends to expand its mission of = giving to=20 the community, dispensing clothing and household items to those in need, = in=20 addition to the food that it has provided for 15 years.

Beginning = Jan. 2,=20 the venerable landmark store on Sutter Hill will begin its new life as = Great=20 Finds Thrift Shop, An Interfaith Food Bank Outreach. After 48 years of = operation=20 with one church, the store now will be affiliated with all of the 16 = Amador=20 County churches that form the Interfaith Council of Amador.

"It's = going=20 to be wonderful," predicted Barbara Kepner, who, along with Joy Blair, = manages=20 Trinity Treasures and will continue to do so under the new arrangement. = Blair, a=20 member of Trinity Episcopal Church for 14 years, stepped in as manager = 16 months=20 ago and Kepner joined her shortly thereafter.

Blair praised the=20 volunteers who work diligently week after week and stated that all the=20 volunteers want to stay after the change. Everyone involved hopes that = this=20 merger will bring a surge of new volunteers. "We don't have enough = volunteers to=20 back us up right now," Kepner said.

"People have been coming in = on just=20 the rumor that we're taking over," said Interfaith Food Bank Director = Kathleen=20 Harmon, adding that the long-term plan is to stay open until 6 p.m., to = take=20 advantage of prime after-work shopping time.

The store needs five = or six=20 people working at all times, what with receiving, sorting, steaming, = pricing and=20 operating the register. There are definite benefits to be derived from = working=20 as a volunteer at the thrift shop: half-price discounts, first dibs and = Kepner's=20 freshly brewed coffee, to name a few. "And we have a really good time = working=20 here," added Joy Blair's husband, Bob.

Kepner named some of the = stalwart=20 volunteers who have donated time and expertise for years. "We have = Camera=20 Charlie," Kepner began, pointing to the box of cameras waiting for = Charlie's=20 attention. Below the camera box was a bin of dolls awaiting Sarah Hart's = gentle=20 touch to bring them back to their original glory. Jewelry is polished = and=20 restored by Katherine Orescan, prior to being put up for = sale.

Electronic=20 donations are tested by Bob, who spent years as a professional jet = engine=20 inspector before retiring to Pine Grove. Bob's been volunteering at = Trinity=20 Treasures since 1995. "We have a real core of volunteers really = dedicated to the=20 store," he said, "and a lot of them are not even affiliated with the=20 church."

Longest-standing volunteer at the thrift store is Sandy=20 Pietronave, who's been volunteering since 1964. The oldest volunteer is=20 88-year-old Eleanor Grielich, whom her colleagues think of as the queen = of the=20 steamer.

"She can steam like nobody's business," Kepner said of=20 Grielich's speed and efficiency at operating the steam-cleaning wand = used to=20 sterilize garments intended for sale.

Trinity Treasures began in = 1960, in=20 a room in the old church downtown, later moved to Main Street at Keyes, = and=20 finally to Sutter Hill, where shopping center owner Ed Swift has given a = "very=20 generous" monthly rental on the 3000-square foot space. "Ed has been = extremely=20 cooperative," Harmon said.

"Episcopal Church Women started this," = said=20 Trinity Episcopal Treasurer Carol Holt. "Flo Deabill used to walk the = money home=20 and put it under the mattress. She lived near the store."

This=20 collaboration couldn't come at a more propitious time, as the number of = families=20 in need has risen to ever more alarming levels. "We're up easily 25 = percent for=20 the year," said Harmon, as she enumerated the present = situation.

"There=20 are a lot people working for minimum wage in the county," added = Interfaith Food=20 Bank of Amador County Board of Directors President-elect Marta Rowe.=20 "Twenty-two-hundred families per month is the base (number of food = recipients at=20 the food bank) and it's all community- no government funding at all. All = the=20 federal funding is shrinking and dying, so organizations dependent upon = the=20 government are in trouble, but Amador County is shocking in its=20 generosity."

What the store needs right now are warm clothes, = sleeping=20 bags and tents. They do not take large appliances, baby cribs or car=20 seats.

Not-for-profit thrift stores can play a vital role in the = economic=20 ecology of Amador County. Those who have things or time to offer begin = the=20 process of providing all that the less fortunate need for survival. = Customers=20 get great bargains while helping others. The food bank has a well known = history=20 of feeding the hungry. Now it intends to clothe them as = well.

Trinity=20 Treasures has had a generous, widespread voucher system in place for = many years.=20 "Vouchers are given to people by many community organizations," Holt = said,=20 "including county social services, the Amador Pregnancy Center and just = about=20 any social group." In Great Finds' future, all 16 churches will be = handing out=20 vouchers.

"If people need things," Holt explained, "they can = receive up=20 to three outfits, head-to-toe. They get to 'go shopping' at the thrift = store,=20 picking whatever they choose. It's the community giving to the = community.=20 Everything that comes in is from the community and goes back to the=20 community."

The churches joining Trinity Episcopal at Great Finds = are=20 Calvary Chapel of Amador, Church of the Nazarene, Community Church of = Pine=20 Grove, Faith Lutheran Church, Fiddletown Community Church, First Baptist = Church=20 of Jackson, Grace Fellowship Church, Ione United Methodist Church, = Immaculate=20 Conception Catholic Church, Jackson United Methodist Church, Mt. Zion = Assembly=20 of God, New Life Christian Center, Pioneer Baptist Church, St. Patrick's = Parish,=20 and Sutter Creek United Methodist Church.

Jerry = Budrick