Two Hours of Free Shopping

 

Christmas Corner at Free-For-All Shop

By 9:30 a.m. the church parking lot was already filling up and families were lined up outside the church door. In the basement, church volunteeers were organizing fall and winter clothing containers on long tables tagged with cards marked men’s, women’s, and children. In addition to looking at summer clothing placed on racks in a different room, we wanted to give families a chance to search through these containers because we have a lot of seasonal clothing. 

We always provide one very, large, clean bag for people to put treasures in but today we provided an additional large bag for clothes in these containers. We also wrap glassware and breakables in newspaper and place these items in separate boxes.

On the last Saturday of July, our Free-For-All shopping is held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Woodycrest United Methodist Church in State College, PA. 

All items are donated. All items are given back free to whoever comes to shop. One family travels almost thirty miles one way because there is nothing like this where they live. 

Our church has held this event for several years and has helped hundreds of families. Church volunteers take donated clothing, place on hangers, and then hang the clothing on designated racks. Kitchen items, books, videos, and other items are carefully organized on shelves and tables. Toys and children’s items like bikes are placed in a separate big room where children can play with the toys and ride the bikes. 

Many volunteers have made sorting and placing these items their career. They volunteer many hours each week in the shop and are always on call.

You can see pictures of some of these items in my July 11 post.