More than a Store

"'Come on in,' the friendly entrance to Caring Hands seems to say.

Store manager Kathy Baden sorts items.

“Our goal isn’t to make money. It’s to reflect Christ’s love in the community.” – Kathy Braden Caring Hands Thrift Shop Manager

“These ladies helped me so much, showed me so much love, I will never forget them. I’m so thankful for all they’ve done for me.” -- Linda, a customer saying goodbye to the Caring Hands Thrift Shop staff prior to moving out of state

by Diane Strzelecki
July 2007

Savvy shoppers have discovered a new store in Yorkville that combines style, atmosphere and service with gobs of merchandise. Outside, you’re reminded of a country general store, with a latticed porch across the grey-green paneled building. Bright garlands of silk flowers flank the door and grace the windows and railings. A patio table and chairs invite customers and visitors to rest their feet and enjoy the day. Inside, the warm welcome continues with attentive service. Displays are tidy and carefully arranged artwork adorns the walls.

Dubbed “more than a store” by its customers just nine months after it opened, the Caring Hands Thrift Shop is located at 121 E. Van Emmon, just east of the Kendall County Food Pantry in Yorkville. The shop is a ministry of Cross Lutheran Church in Yorkville, Illinois, about 55 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. But it is truly the passion of shop manager Kathy Braden, a lifelong area resident and a woman dedicated to helping others (see "The Shop Manager and the Ministry").

“As far as I know, Caring Hands is the only thrift store in Yorkville [population 11,000],” notes Arinne Dickson, External Print Communications Coordinator for Cross Lutheran. “I know there’s one in Plano and Sandwich—there’s also a Salvation Army store in Montgomery—but this is the only store of its kind in Kendall County.”

According to Karen Hardecopf, Director of Care Ministries at Cross Lutheran, the thrift shop has been an ongoing vision of Kathy’s. “She has always focused on fulfilling the needs of others with tangible items,” Hardecopf notes. “Even before the store opened, people would give donations to her because they know that she knows about the needs in the community.”

Braden’s 20 years as an employee of Yorkville’s former main grocery store, Safari Market, helped her get to know just about everybody – and vice versa. “A lot of people know me,” she says. “I just really like to help people and I’m always willing to listen. I’m always surprised by what people say to me—I don’t know what it is about me.”

Dickson notes that long before the thrift shop became a reality, Kathy was organizing craft fairs and rummage sales to raise money for church mission trips. The Braden’s even maintained an inventory of household items and clothing in their basement – just in case.

“She has a heart for people helping people in need,” Dickson says. “Kathy and her husband would find out about people who had lost everything due to fires or were down on their luck and do what they could to help or provide items free of charge.”

When Cross Lutheran began its North Campus Ministry in 2004 (see " God’s Provision"), one of the primary outreach goals was to become embedded in the community. Community Bridges, a drop-in center for people in need that also linked people to other area resources, was one way this goal was met. Karen Hardecopf assists with this volunteer-run program. “Several people a month would come to the church and we would provide as we are able and/or direct them to other organizations in the county that could help them,” she says. But the folks at Cross wanted more.

Braden also wanted more. “I used to see the red roof of the North Campus building as I drove on the overpass on my way to work,” she says. “I could feel God’s tug on my heart that I was to be a part of that ministry.” After much prayer, she asked staff what she could do as a North Campus team member.

Hardecopf listened to Braden speak about her passion for people and her vision for a thrift shop and was sold. Soon after Braden was hired as community human care coordinator, her research through the Kendall County Health Department and the Kendall County Human Services confirmed what she already knew: the community lacked a place where people could buy affordable necessities. And the shop was a real way for the church to be in the community.

“We really expected it to take about 6 to 10 months to start up,” remembers Hardecopf. “Kathy was on board for just a month when a building became available. In two months the store was open.”

Braden is grateful her vision became reality but remains grounded. “All along, God was preparing us to run this store,” she says. “And it’s definitely not a one-person show. The store wouldn’t be there without our [30+] volunteers and our two part-time employees.”

Hardecopf knows that the grant was a timely blessing. “We were so thankful Ablaze! gave us a grant to pay for assistance at the shop,” Hardecopf says. “The ministry has grown so much from them just being there.”

Although Braden feels blessed with the building, the employees and volunteers, she is excited about the possibilities that a larger building would create—and not because the store could carry more merchandise.

“We’d like to become a real community resource and combine the shop with a drop-in ministry and offer classes in parenting, budgeting, education, English as a Second Language and more,” she says. But current customers are close to her heart (see "Care and Compassion for Customers").

“With a larger space we would have more opportunity for personal ministry,” she says. “Right now customers have to stand by the register or the counter if they want to talk. There’s not enough privacy for people to share their heart.”