By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Lonoke County Safe Haven, a non-profit, opened a thrift store on Thursday to support its domestic violence shelter.
The store is located in the former Safe Haven office in the Cabot mini-mall on North First Street. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“So many are having a hard time. This will benefit the community and the shelter,” store manager Julie Bohannan said.
Bohannan said the reason for opening the store is to support the shelter. All proceeds go to paying the shelter’s bills. Many federal and state grants Lonoke County Safe Haven relies on were cut in October with more cuts expected. Safe Haven is a shelter for women and their children to escape abusive situations. The shelter supplies them with meals and health items. The store will also pay for utilities and staff salaries.
“We also use this for clients. (Often) they’ve just came with the clothes on the back and they can come and get what they need,” Bohannan said.
She said the thrift store was set up with a lot of volunteers and hard work. The paint on the walls was donated by Sherwin-Williams. The shelving was donated by Scott Lumber.
The thrift shop’s paint colors have special meaning. Teal is for sexual assault victim awareness. Purple is for domestic violence awareness. Green is because Bohannan liked it. The store has clothing, some with tags; household items, baby items, toys and bicycles.
All items are donated. A majority of the clothing is priced at $1. The more expensive pieces are $2 to $5.
If people want to donate they can bring clothing to the thrift store. If they want to donate to the shelter, they can bring items to the shop and they will be transported to the shelter’s home. Because it’s a non-profit donors can receive a tax receipt.
A store ribbon cutting will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 6.
