Hundreds of volunteers, many of them EMU alumni, are the backbone of four alumni-run, nonprofit charitable enterprises in Harrisonburg that funnel funds toward worldwide poverty alleviation, relief and development efforts.
Gift Thrift, and its used-book enterprise, Booksavers of Virginia, and adjacent Artisans鈥 Hope gift shop (all three in a small shopping strip an easy walk from EMU) function as charitable enterprises that benefit the relief and development work of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), says Debra Glick King 鈥77, 鈥12, general manager of the three. The businesses operate largely with volunteer labor, about 200 men and women these days.
Of the MCC thrift shops in 18 states and five Canadian provinces, Gift & Thrift is the only one in Virginia.
When the store opened on North Main Street in 1982, its first manager, Norman H. Kreider 鈥60, worked on a volunteer basis, as did the co-managers for the next 12 years: his wife, Dorothy Lehman Kreider 鈥54, and Marjorie Guengerich (wife of the late EMU administrator Paul Guengerich). Norman Kreider 鈥渙ften engineered remodeling projects鈥 before the Kreiders left to operate Rolling Hills Antique Mall, which they have since sold, says Dorothy. Remarking on Gift & Thrift鈥檚 current facility, she adds, 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to believe the store is what it is now.鈥
Jordan Good 鈥09, a who handles furniture and electronics at Gift & Thrift, says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 great working at a place where personal values meet organizational values.鈥 Staff and volunteers sometimes do minor repairs on donated items, but Good would like donors to know that repairs make more sense for well-constructed wood furniture than for electronic items.
Artisans’ Hope听is one of two stores in Harrisonburg that enables customers to 鈥済ive twice鈥 by shopping at Fair Trade stores.
Early MCC thrift stores featured 鈥渟elf help crafts鈥 corners with creative gift items from developing nations, committed to fair compensation. Locally, that鈥檚 become the mission for two similar stores 鈥 Artisans鈥 Hope and Ten Thousand Villages.
鈥淲e try to work together鈥 in referrals and searches, says King.
Artisans’ Hope, she explains, is an 鈥渁lliance鈥 store of Ten Thousand Villages, operating independently under Gift & Thrift鈥檚 umbrella to support Fair Trade organizations and goals.
Fair Trade certification, according to the Fair Trade Federation, requires 鈥渇air wages, cooperative workplaces, consumer education, environmental sustainability, financial and technical support, respect for cultural identity, and public accountability.鈥
King has observed more businesses in the for-profit sector carrying fair trade merchandise in response to the increase in customers who want to make socially responsible purchases.
King came from Lancaster County, Pa., to attend EMU in the late 1970s. Here she met her future husband Dave King 鈥76 (today EMU鈥檚 director of athletics). After graduating as a , she taught school in Pennsylvania until the couple returned to Harrisonburg when Dave took the job at EMU in 2005. Their three children have all graduated from EMU, where King earned an MBA recently to enhance her ability to manage the three charity-focused stores. She likes nonprofit work, but feels 鈥淚 could be in any business and live out my values and be profitable.鈥
The store has expanded its clothing inventory. 鈥淚 love the atmosphere of change for the better, not change for change鈥檚 sake,鈥 King adds.
Roy Heatwole 鈥64, one of many volunteers, enjoys meeting people over the cash register at Artisans鈥 Hope. He taught at EMC, 1965-67, prior to a civil service career.
Ten Thousand Villages听has grown from the trunk of founder Edna Ruth Byler鈥檚 car soon after World War II to nearly 400 stores, including five in Virginia. The Harrisonburg outlet, celebrating its 21st year, began as 鈥淚nternational Impressions鈥 and became Ten Thousand Villages when the Villages network adopted that name in 1996, says director Valerie Showalter Weaver 鈥76. The store moved from the Dayton Farmers Market to the historic district of Harrisonburg in February 2011.
Weaver, from Waynesboro, studied social work at EMU and then worked in social services until she and Greg Weaver 鈥76 started their family. When, after volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages, she was hired 15 years ago to manage the store, she expected it to be a short-term job, but now she has no plans to leave a business she has grown to love. Kara Miller 鈥07 also started as a volunteer but is now on staff as volunteer coordinator.
Kelly Brewer Dean 鈥10, a hospital nurse and Villages volunteer, enjoys telling customers about Fair Trade鈥檚 鈥済ifts that give twice.鈥 As a first-year student in a work-study position at Artisans鈥 Hope, she 鈥渇ell in love鈥 with the products and mission. Then during her 2008 Middle East cross-cultural, she met one of the olive wood artisans and his wife. Touched by their pride in their work and its benefit to their family, she recalls the moment as 鈥渉umbling and joyful.鈥
Kenneth D. Brunk, a volunteer and a board member of the local Villages store, agrees, 鈥淚 am quite passionate about the huge difference it makes for craftspeople around the world.鈥 He considers every hour volunteered 鈥渁 direct gift to some friend I have never met who needs to market his or her skill to support their family.鈥
Ten Thousand Villages is not 鈥渆aten up with bureaucracy and process,鈥 as are some NGOs and aid organizations, adds Brunk, who attended EMU in the late 1960s and early 1970s and then did rural development work in East Africa.
听Tried and True is co-managed by Deb Rissler Layman 鈥86, a business administration major who grew up in her family鈥檚 local grocery. 鈥淲orking with people and things comes easily,鈥 she says.
Layman鈥檚 shop is one of two thrift shops in Harrisonburg managed by EMU grads. No problem 颅鈥 鈥渢he more thrift stores, the better,鈥 Layman says. 鈥淓ach shop has its own personality.鈥
Deb and Ken Layman 鈥80 raised their family while job-sharing 鈥 managing Crowded Closet in Iowa City, a shop benefiting MCC; then, managing and expanding Harrisonburg鈥檚 Gift and Thrift store from 1996 to 2005. Eventually, wanting to try a different set-up, they opened Tried and True Thrift Shop across town.
The Laymans鈥 store features silent antique auctions and Ken鈥檚 nature-photo cards. Profits totaling $80,000 have supported the Church of the Brethren Global Food Crisis Fund and MCC鈥檚 Generations at Risk HIV/AIDS Fund.
The Mennonite Relief Sale has claimed the energies of David Mininger 鈥74 each October since the mid-1970s. The Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale features hand-sewn quilts sold at auction, handmade crafts, goods baked by volunteers, and freshly prepared breakfasts and lunches. At first the event was named Augusta Relief Sale and held at Augusta ExpoLand. In its formative period, 1967-1974, this fundraiser occurred on a farm owned by the late Paul Wenger 鈥27.
For the last 18 years, while earning his living in insurance in Waynesboro (Va.), Mininger has been the grounds chair, in charge of set up and tear down. In 1999, Mininger and his fellow volunteers, most of them members of area Mennonite churches, followed the event when it moved to the Rockingham County Fairgrounds, where it has been a popular annual attraction ever since.
Homemade donuts are a major attraction. Lois Wenger 鈥76, heads the popular donut-production operation.
Dave says his wife, Marian Leaman Mininger 鈥74, each year 鈥渁ims to make about 25 pies and a variety of other baked goods such as cookies, cakes and breads鈥 for the sale. 鈥淪he is hesitant to state amounts, not wanting to brag or set a precedent. Baking is just something she enjoys doing.鈥 Marian was one of nearly 1,000 volunteers for the 47th Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale in 2013.
Phil Helmuth 鈥76, EMU鈥檚 executive director of development, chaired the Virginia Relief Sale for a total of seven years, handing off his leadership role in 2010, though he remains a rank-and-file volunteer. He also served as MCC鈥檚 coordinator of the organization鈥檚 overall North America Relief Sale efforts from 1997 to 2002. During that tenure, 11 new sales in the United States and Canada were added.
North America Relief Sale Coordinator Les Gustafson-Zook said that MCC received $5.45 million from the 46 MCC sales in the United States and Canada in 2013. The Virginia event raised $262,788.
Publicity for the sale is organized by Lisa Bergey Lehman, a 2003 business administration major, who in her paid job is marketing manager for Park View Federal Credit Union.
Sale chairman Dave Rush 鈥99, a Harrisonburg High School math teacher who has worked with the sale for nine years, notes that for many volunteers, it鈥檚 鈥渁 big reunion.鈥
Rush calls the sale 鈥渃ommunity building at its finest. I may not be working with MCC in another country, but I can do a small part to support the work of those who do.鈥
鈥 Chris Edwards