Red Barn Thrift Shop Reopens

During the winter hiatus, much work was done to spruce up the place -- new carpet, foam insulation and new windows, to name a few. From December to April 10, when the shop reopened, parishioners worked hard to get the barn ready.

"Originally, the floors were wooden and the cold came through," said Virginia Garms, worker extraordinaire at the shop.

The new carpet really helped warm up the place, coupled with new windows donated from and an updated HVAC system worked on by a parishioner.

The History

The building, located behind h, has a long and storied past in town.

"They used to keep a fire truck in this building," said Garms. "Then it used to be Tony's Meat Market."

A blast from the past was uncovered during the renovations. Tony's Meat Market had some interesting wallpaper on its walls, that showcased some of the wares sold at the market.

"We uncovered the wallpaper and we had to keep it," said Garms, referring to one section of wall that proudly displays meat-decorated wallpaper. "It's cool, to keep the history."

So Much More Than Bargains

The shop is more than a place to go to get discounted items. People come to socialize, Garms said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing some of the customers that I haven't seen since December," she said.

The revenue from the shop supports Christian education and outreach.

"Although we like to get revenue, the biggest thing we do is redistribute goods," said Garms.

She takes that job seriously. If the shop cannot sell items because there is a slight imperfection or the set is incomplete, Garms finds them a home. Blankets go to , a no-kill shelter located in Middlebury. Stuffed animals are sent to Kids in Crisis, an organization that provides free, round-the-clock crisis counseling and temporary shelter for infants, children and teens.

"Odds and ends go to ," said Garms. "We also support the Fair. Last year, I gave them boxes of books to sell. We try really hard to never throw anything away; we try to distribute stuff."

The shop provides Secret Angels gift certificates for families in need.

"We give them to social workers and they distribute them to families in need," said Garms. "We are a ministry here at the barn for lots of reasons. We look at things from a spiritual standpoint."

Divine Intervention

If people come in looking for a particular item and the shop does not have it, Garms said she jots down names and numbers and if the item comes in, she makes a call. Sometimes, she said she feels divine intervention is at play.

"A woman came in once and said she was looking for a small angel statute," said Garms. "She said her husband died and she wanted to put the statue at his grave."

She took the woman's name and number and for two weeks, nothing came in that fit that criteria.

"Two weeks later, I opened up the donation bin and at the bottom of the bin was an angel statue," said Garms. "The next day, there was the pedestal for that angel statue. The woman said, 'that's exactly what I'm looking for.' I hadn't seen an angel statue like that come in before that or after that."

Another person dropped stones off at the shop that had messages on them like "Love," "Hope" and "Faith."

"We decided to bring them to the women's retreat," said Garms. "We didn't count them. There were 19 stones and 19 women on the retreat. Our previous pastor would have called those 'god winks'."

The Red Barn Thrift Shop can be reached at 203-263-3506 and is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.