New To You Shoppe Benefits Many Local Organizations

Sometimes the name of a thrift store is directly related to the charity or organization it is affiliated with, but sometimes it is not. In the case of the , the name hints at nothing except what is inside.

“Some of the proceeds go to the (Farmingdale United Methodist) church but a lot of it goes to mission work,” said Jean Brown, a lifelong Farmingdale resident who is one of the co-chair persons of the thrift shop as well as a member of the church. “The rest of the proceeds go to many different benevolents like Covenant House, a  Methodist camp in Shelter Island and others. We also have two bins on the side of the house for donations to Big Brothers, Big Sisters for things we cannot use or when we have an overflow of things.”

The thrift shop is similar to many others as it is run mainly by volunteers except for one person.

“The girl that manages the store lives upstairs from it and she is paid by the thrift store,” Brown said. “She keeps it clean and straightened up and brings in the donations people leave when they shouldn't, like when we are closed. The rest are volunteers, about 20 or so, and each one has a pretty set schedule. Some of them are members of the church, some are not. It's not required.”

Brown sets the schedule for the shop, but she has help with other things that come with running a thrift store.

“Denise Andrews co-chairs the shop with me so we split the responsibility,” Brown said. “She does the financial part and I do the scheduling.”

It is a good thing that Brown has someone helping her run things at the thrift store because she is one busy woman.

“I am president of SEPTA for the second time,” Brown said. “I was president before and did it for two years, then someone else did it for two years. I work at SUNY Farmingdale part time doing fundraising and event planning, too. And as a member of the church I help out in other ways there, like with the weekly soup kitchen.”

Brown explained that the old charming house the thrift store is located in, which is right next door to the church, is owned by them as well.

“The church got the building 35 years ago when the person who lived in it gave the house to the church after they died. The church has had the thrift store since then,” she said.

The shop carries a wide variety of clothes and accessories for men, women, children and babies; toys, games, sheets, towels, house and kitchen items, books VHS tapes and more. They do not accept electronics, TV's, computers and most furniture unless it is small. Bag sales take place a few times a year.

Right now the store need donations as well as volunteers. That is how Brown became involved with the shop about five years ago.

“I knew from being a member of the church that they needed volunteers so I started helping,” she said. “We mostly try to go through our own church but sometimes we tried to reach out to other churches. We had some students from St. Killian's do it as a community service. It's something they can do.”

The New To You Shoppe is located at 401 Main Street, right next to the church. It is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m.- 1 p.m. and on Thursday evenings from 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. For more information, please call 516-752-2181.