Tue Feb 09 2010
Bricks will tumble next year, when construction crews demolish several downtown buildings to make room for the $29 million judicial center.
But that won’t be the end of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a thrift store and clothing bank that has served Frankfort’s needy from the basement of Good Shepherd School since the 1970s.
The center will move to a renovated TV repair shop on Wallace Avenue in January.
The 4,200-square-foot facility will give volunteers a workroom, restrooms and a washer and dryer. Clients will try on clothes in dressing rooms instead of the boiler room, like they do now.
“They’re going to destroy this building anyway – we have to move,” said Bob Hicks, vice president of the society.
“It wasn’t the usual donations that enabled us to purchase the building. It was the kindness of Charlie.”
Charlie Schroff volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul after he retired in 2004 from the Revenue Department, where he worked as a tax policy research consultant.
He organized the food pantry, Hicks said, meticulously categorizing and straightening cans. The storage space is named after him now, decorated with a plaque that reads “Charlie’s Room.”
“Charlie and I were like the Odd Couple,” Hicks said, laughing. “He was the neat freak.”
When Schroff died in 2007 at age 63, the bachelor left one-third of his estate to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
“With that estate, we were able to purchase four parcels of land on Wallace Avenue,” Hicks said. “He was quite a good, Christian gentleman.”
The society purchased the property for $56,000 earlier this year, Hicks said, and contractors have completed more than $200,000 in renovations.
They’ve repaired the roof, foundation, floors and sidewalk, said St. Vincent de Paul President Chuck Cotton.
Rain has delayed construction, but the new center should open by January – bearing a plaque to honor Schroff for his contribution.
Along with the 3,200-square-foot thrift store and 1,000-square-foot food pantry, the property includes two upstairs apartments and a shotgun-style house that Hicks said could eventually become a counseling center.
“There are some other ministries and areas that we haven’t been able to get into because of our location here, that we may want to get into,” he said.
“We could use that for some other type of ministry that we don’t have.”
Cotton says he isn’t sure how St. Vincent de Paul will use the apartments yet, but they have been renovated to be rented.
The new location, off Holmes Street, is near a bus line, Hicks said. There is a vacant lot that can be used for parking.
Most exciting to Cotton and Hicks is the lack of stairs. Volunteers and clients now descend a set of concrete steps to get to the basement shop.
“We thought that location was just excellent,” Hicks said.
But the new location will cost more than the current one.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society uses the Good Shepherd School basement free of rent and utility bills – it only pays for the phone and office supplies, Hicks said.
St. Vincent de Paul is separate from Good Shepherd, but it shares a close association with the church. No ordained person can be a member, Hicks said, though they can serve as a spiritual advisor.
“We’ve had the best of two worlds,” Hicks said. “We’re moving into a new adventure and a new world, and we’re not sure what we’re going to do there.”
Most of the society’s monetary donations come from parishioners, Cotton said. Contributions are collected in a basket once a month.
But donations have suffered slightly during the economic recession, Hicks said. The society is seeking more help from the community to cover the increased expenses of running the new center.
During the quarter that ended Sept. 30, St. Vincent de Paul gave food boxes to 529 families and provided clothing, bedding and house wares to 287.
The long, narrow thrift store is packed with racks of clothes, coats and shoes. There are tables filled with small appliances and house wares, and on Wednesdays the windowless space is packed with volunteers.
Cotton estimates 30 volunteers work there on a regular basis, sorting clothing and running the cash register. Stay-at-home moms wash and mend clothing.
Hicks was a walking advertisement for St. Vincent de Paul earlier this week, sporting a pair of khaki pants he purchased at the thrift shop.
Volunteers affix modest price stickers to the items, though Cotton says they aren’t driven by profit. Blue jeans cost $1, but most clothing costs 25 cents.
It makes clients feel better to pay something, Cotton said. But if they can’t afford the price, volunteers give them the items for free, or pay out of their own pockets.
Food and clothing donations come from all over Frankfort. When they get a surplus, they work with other agencies to distribute items.
St. Vincent de Paul coordinates with the Salvation Army, the Resource Office for Social Ministries, ACCESS Soup Kitchen and Men’s Shelter, the Red Cross, Comprehensive Care and other local charities.
“We don’t throw it away,” Hicks said. “We don’t waste it.”
But St. Vincent de Paul does more than run a food pantry and thrift store.
During the last quarter, the society gave clients $20,814 for rent, utility bills, medication and school tuition.
Other charitable works include bus tickets around Frankfort and to other states, heaters in the winter, window fans in the summer and short motel stays when their clients lose their housing.
When they’re looking for work, volunteers spread the word.
Each Christmas, St. Vincent de Paul distributes gifts to Frankfort families. This year, more than 90 families will take part.
The St. Vincent de Paul help line is 227-8037. Anyone wishing to make donations can also call that number.
The thrift store and food pantry is open each Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Until it moves to the new location, the center will continue to operate in the basement of Good Shepherd Elementary School on Wapping Street.
It will be closed this Saturday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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