ST. GEORGE — After more than a decade next to the Electric Theater, The Hope Chest thrift store has found a new home.
Although the location is new, now at 656 N. Dixie Drive, the nonprofit thrift store’s mission remains the same.
“We exist to support local women with an unplanned pregnancy through the Hope Pregnancy Care Center of St. George,” store Manager Shellie DeVeau said. “Proceeds from the thrift store are used to achieve that goal.”
Ten days ago, the thrift store opened its new doors to the public and saw an “awesome” beginning.
“We had been in the downtown area on Tabernacle where we rented a building that was very charming and old, but not very practical,” DeVeau said. “So, during the past year, we built a new building. The day we opened you would have thought it was Black Friday. The turnout was unbelievable. We were stunned.”
Along with a lot of the store’s regular customers, there were many new faces present at the grand opening.
With only a smattering of advertisements on Facebook and no real marketing plan, the staff at The Hope Chest Thrift Store were “blown away” by the response on opening day.
“I am still amazed,” DeVeau said. “We are just a thrift store, but people came out. Part of it might have been that we were closed for a month in the transition to our new location, but to this day I really don’t know what brought everybody out.”
Items typically found in the store range from the average thrift store fare including used clothing, furniture and houseware goods, to new items donated by several businesses throughout town.
“We recently got a lot of fall-related items in from a craft store who started put out things for Christmas,” DeVeau said. “St. George is a very giving community. We are so grateful for how supportive the community is.”
Hope Pregnancy Center Director Tami Campbell said their relationship with the thrift store couldn’t be more perfect.
“The Hope Chest Thrift Store was opened in 2009 to supply income for the Hope Pregnancy Care Center as the economy had taken a downward turn,” Campbell said. “Our board of directors liked the idea of having an avenue of income that would be consistent, while also blessing the community.”
As a faith-based nonprofit organization, Hope Pregnancy Care Center operates the thrift store as a DBA (doing business as) of the corporation. The net proceeds from the thrift store support the many services and programs of the center. Other sources of income are provided from annual fundraising events and private donors.
“We don’t receive any government funds and our services are free, so our supporters, donors and the thrift store are the keys to the success of our organization being able to serve more than 1,550 women and their families with compassionate care in their time of need since 2005,” Campbell said.
The center’s mission is to provide compassionate, life-affirming opportunities that equip clients with resources to make informed choices about pregnancy. The center provides women, and men, with practical, emotional and spiritual support when facing an unplanned pregnancy.
The center is affiliated with Care Net, one of the largest Christian pregnancy resource organizations of its kind with more than 1,100 affiliates in the United States and Canada.
The center embraces a view toward the prevention of unplanned pregnancies and provides abstinence education to its clients as well as public school students.
All services are free and confidential, including:
- Self-administered pregnancy tests.
- Education to include information on all options: Parenting, adoption and abortion.
- Adoption information and referrals.
- Prenatal and parenting programs for men and women.
- Material resource assistance.
- Past abortion care and education support group.
- Why Not Sexual Risk Avoidance Education program.
For more information visit www.care-net.org
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