Volunteers keep thrift store wheels turning

By Lori Fischer Thorp

Correspondent

When Harvest Fellowship Church assumed the operation of Frazee’s established thrift store a number of years ago, they renamed it Twice Blessed.

Volunteers Lori and Terry Jaros work weekly at the store, and she said the name captures the idea that items are a blessing to the first owner, and then for the new buyer.

Sometimes, though, there’s one more revolution in the blessing wheel, when the store allots some of its revenue for a donation to a local organization. 

For Frazee’s CornerStone project, that sweet third turn rolled forward February 7, when Twice Blessed volunteers and board members gathered to make a $2,500 donation to the dynamic facility. Located in the former Frazee United Methodist Church building and adjacent to Frazee High School, CornerStone had also received a $1,000 donation from the thrift store in October 2021.

That local support for individuals, families and Frazee is right in line with Twice Blessed’s FaceBook statement, “Our desire is to provide for the community by showing God’s abundance, connecting people to quality.” 

Locals as well as folks traveling from a distance make their way into the store, and visitors include many regular shoppers plus those who are coming for the first time. 

There is a continuously rotating, exceptionally clean and attractive display of items in the space, which is unique due to its leased location, in Frazee-Vergas School’s annex, across from the high school on Highway 87. The Lake Agassiz Regional Library also occupies one of the rooms in the building.

“We are so thankful for having that wonderful space for the store, and the great location,” said Volunteer Coordinator Mary Seiler. 

Seiler has worked with the project ever since the organizational transition, and she and other volunteers are another unique hitch-pin for the project’s success.

The store has its own board of directors, which includes volunteers as well as some church members, though volunteers do not need to be members of the church. 

Seiler said her attraction to the project is that “I like to help people shop, and I like to try to put people with objects or clothes based on my observations about how they like to dress or what they like. I really enjoy the interaction with the people,” she said.

“We’ve gotten some beautiful formal dresses,” she said, and once a designer lamp caught the eye of the school custodian, who happily claimed it as his own. “We run specials every month,” Seiler said, when items with specifically-colored tags are rotated to half price based on the length of time they’ve been available. There’s also an area of free items. 

The network of volunteers managing tasks has shifted a number of times throughout the years, but there have been strong constants in the picture, including Stacy Cruz. 

“We sorely miss her,” said Seiler.

Cruz, who passed away September 1, 2022, began putting her talents into the project “when we decided to take the store over, and the committee was working on transition,” Seiler said. 

In years when Seiler wintered in Florida, Cruz’s dedication including making the weekly round-trip drive from her home in Pelican Rapids to do “a great job of organizing, coordinating and running the store.”

“Stacy did a great job of highlighting the store on FaceBook,” Stockstrom said. “We’re going to be doing more of that…right now we have four strong volunteers running the store,” including the Jaroses, Mary Ann Miller and Diane Potter, who balance the store’s current three-day schedule.

“I really like that families in need can get vouchers,” said Miller, who said she has been helping at the store for four or five years. Those voucher amounts are based on a family’s size and needs. 

Items in the store range from rooms stocked with carefully sorted clothing, to housewares and often brand-new items that weren’t used by the original buyer, or antiques. “I just love it,” Miller said of receiving donations. “There’s an excitement, you never know what’s going to be in the boxes,” and she enjoys seeing new as well as regular shoppers.

Diane Potter agrees. She has been a part of the crew for about a year, and she enjoys working with Miller and capturing some of those moments in photos. “It’s just fun there,” Potter said.

“It takes a team, with everyone using their gifts” said Lori Jaros. “We’d fall apart pretty quick if it wasn’t a team effort.”

Seiler said that through the years, volunteers such as the Jeroses have stepped in “in a moment of need. They’ve been a huge blessing because they’re very good at it and took to it naturally. They’re very involved in taking responsibility,” she said.

The Jeroses moved from Frazee to Fergus Falls two years ago, to be closer to family. Terry Jeros had lived in Frazee in 1977-78, while attending what is now M-State in Detroit Lakes. Once they’d made the community their home, they began searching for involvement.

“We asked Pastor (Stockstrom), ‘What can we do, we need a spot to serve,’” said Lori Jaros. She said Stockstrom “prayed about it.” Stockstrom said the pairing of the couple’s positive energy in the store “was a match made in Heaven.”

Jaros said that’s because Twice Blessed has a deeper mission than receiving, sorting and selling gently-used items.

“It’s not only ‘stuff,’ she said. “It’s people. We have people who come in, they don’t need anything, they just want to visit.”

To be part of that connection and help make a difference though Twice Blessed, stop in to shop or bring donations during store hours (Thursdays and Fridays, 12-5 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.), or text Mary Seiler (218-841-7434) to find out more about volunteer opportunities.