The Shop Manager and the Ministry

The Caring Hands Thrift Store is a vision come to life for Kathy Baden and Cross Lutheran in Yorkville.

by Diane Strzelecki
July 2007

Kathy Braden’s credentials are impressive: more than 25 years of experience as office manager, front-end manager, cashier and interior designer; a graduate of Joliet Junior College with a degree in Interior Design; a Stephen Minister for nearly 4 years. But it’s her soft-spoken personality and quiet compassion that make the biggest impression on the customers at Caring Hands Thrift Shop in Yorkville, a ministry of Cross Lutheran Church (see "More than a Store").

“Kathy is a quiet person that is always in the Lord—she truly lives out the verse that says ‘Be ready to share’,” says Karen Hardecopf, Director of Care Ministries at Cross Lutheran Church in Yorkville. “She really cares about the volunteers and workers as well.”

Braden, a member of Cross for 29 years, grew up in Lisbon, Illinois. She has always lived or worked in the area—and she has always had the desire to help people. (See also "Care and Compassion for Customers.")

One childhood memory in particular sticks out. “I remember riding in the car with my family and we witnessed a camper full of kids getting stuck on the railroad tracks,” Braden says. “We didn’t hesitate –we all just got out of the car and helped the people out of the camper before it was struck by a train.” She remembers growing up with the idea of ‘when you see someone who needs something, you help them.’

“We’ve always opened our house to people and collected items to give to people in need,” Braden says. “God blesses us all the time.”

The vision that Cross Lutheran staff had for their North Campus ministry was one of being embedded in the community, which meshed with Braden’s longtime vision of opening a thrift shop. She was hired by Cross as Community Human Care Coordinator in 2006. (See also "God’s Provision.")

“God planted the vision for this ministry in her heart, and in her quiet, unassuming way, it’s a lot of who she is,” says Arinne Dickson, External Print Communications Coordinator for Cross. “People feel comfortable talking to her—she has that way about her.”

Barbara McClish, one of two part-time employees at the shop, notes that customers appreciate the mix of personalities among workers and volunteers. “The Lord brought us all together for a good reason,” she says. “I’m very social, always trying to strike up conversations with folks, asking them questions. Kathy tends to take the quiet approach.” McClish also considers it her job to challenge people with negative attitudes. The result: open and honest communication.

“People get comfortable enough that they do start asking the tough questions,” she says. “They want us to be authentic about our faith.”

Braden agrees. “A teen-aged customer once asked me ‘What do you get out of being a Christian?’ Whatever I said must have satisfied him, because he brought it up later,” she says.

It’s just another way that Braden feels blessed: that God gives her the words to say to His people. She also counts the supporters of the ministry and the church among her many blessings.