Faith-filled volunteers fill Lake Ozark thrift store, food pantry

The volunteers in the thrift store: they work hard but also have a lot of fun!”

Sharon Konuch, service director for Hope House of Miller County

People contribute time, money, gently used merchandise, a jubilant disposition and focused determination to “give them something to eat.”

The Holy Spirit does the rest.

“I see God revealing Himself here every day, simply in our being able to give people the food they need,” said Sharon Konuch, service director for Hope House of Miller County.

Hope House is a nonprofit organization sponsored by 12 local churches in the Lake of the Ozarks area.

It provides food, school supplies, children’s coats and other services to people in need in a designated service area.

“The simple thing of food is so important!” said Mrs. Konuch, a member of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Ozark.

Volunteers sell donated merchandise in a popular thrift store on one side of the building, with the proceeds supporting the food pantry on the other.

More than 40 volunteers — over a third of the people who staff the thrift shop and food pantry — are active members of Our Lady of the Lake Parish.

“We do a lot of work down there,” said Deacon Jim Hankins, chairman of the parish’s social concerns commission.

“We pray for those in our community who are struggling and in need of our assistance and support, and God sends us to help answer those prayers,” he said.

The thrift store is open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays through Saturdays.

The food pantry is open from 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Food pantry clients, thrift store customers, and volunteers often cross paths and mingle.

“It’s a delightful place to be,” said Our Lady of the Lake parishioner Janet Bischler, who has been volunteering in the thrift store for at least 13 years.

“You meet so many great people here,” she said. “You get to be really close friends with the customers and your co-volunteers.”

Faithful expression

Local churches established Hope House in 2002 and set as its mission “to offer hope and short-term help to those in need within our community as an expression of God’s love and care.”

It serves Iberia, Brumley, Ulman, Tuscumbia, Kaiser, Osage Beach, Lake Ozark and part of Eldon.

More than 100 volunteers and four part-time employees keep the food pantry and thrift store going.

The volunteers provided about 22,000 service hours in 2021.

Volunteer Jim Murphy had a neighbor who made frequent donations to Hope House.

“He used to tell me, ‘The thing I like most about Hope House is that everybody I see in that place is smiling,’” Mr. Murphy said.

Everyone gets together for prayer at the beginning of each day before the doors open.

Most are members of sponsoring churches, but all sectors of the community — businesses, civic organizations and the general public — are represented.

Our Lady of the Lake Parish was one of the founding congregations and continues to be a significant supporter of Hope House. In 2021, 41 volunteers contributed about 35 percent of the total volunteer hours.

The parish continues to provide ongoing financial and organizational support.

Previous pastors Monsignor Michael Wilbers, Monsignor Marian Makarewicz and Father Ignazio Medina have been strong backers of the Hope House mission, as is current pastor Father Michael Penn.

Parishioners have also served as members of the Board of Directors and held other positions of leadership.

Hope House’s primary mission is to provide nutrition to its clients within its service area each month, as determined by the Board of Directors, according to established guidelines.

Approximately 675 individuals each month are provided with a well-rounded, balanced supply of food and other personal-care necessities intended to supplement their other resources.

Proceeds from the thrift store are the most important source of funding for Hope House to carry-out its mission — followed by contributions from the Food Bank For Central and Northeast Missouri, sponsoring churches, the general public and other patrons.

Local businesses provide material and cash donations, as well.

The thrift store offers clothing for newborns through adults, housewares, household decorations, linens, bedding, small appliances, furniture and more.

Donations of gently used items are appreciated and accepted every day Hope House is open.

People consistently donate desirable merchandise for resale.

“And the volunteers in the thrift store: they work hard but also have a lot of fun!” said Mrs. Konuch. “The store always looks fantastic, and it’s the volunteers who do it.”

She noted that a volunteer, Jim Craig, recently built spacious, matching display shelves that not only look good but create more space for merchandise.

Spirit of nourishment

Volunteers serve the clients, customers and donors in a caring and fun environment.

John Amann, a volunteer, coordinates the food pantry volunteers.

“It’s a privilege to be here,” he said. “You find God in the hearts of everybody who works here.”

Clients who are eligible sign in with a volunteer at the desk, who fills out a ticket for the pantry.

Volunteers move shopping carts through a tidy course of shelves, freezers, coolers and bins, gathering food and toiletries according to the number of people in each family.

“Our goal is to provide enough food to the client for one week per month,” said Mr. Amann. “And if you see the baskets we fill, we’re probably giving them enough for two weeks.”

Cycle of giving

Hope House helped feed 1,081 people in November — a bit of a jump from the previous month.

“The colder the weather gets, the more people come in for food,” said Mrs. Konuch. “Heating bills are high. With the economy the way it is, people say, ‘We can’t afford to go to the grocery store anymore.’ They’re coming here and they need food.”

Hope House also helps kids in school.

Clients’ children from Kindergarten thru eighth grade receive a new backpack and school supplies as well as a gift card for new shoes to start the school year.

Those children also receive a gift card for new shoes for winter.

“Our Lady of the Lake is a big contributor to this,” said Mrs. Konuch. “They put it into their bulletin each week and they bring supplies in like you wouldn’t believe.”

“And we just finished giving almost 100 kids brand-new coats,” said Mrs. Konuch.

Several scholarships are awarded each year to provide capable children the opportunity to attend summer learning programs and other educational experiences that would not otherwise be available to them.

These things are possible in large part due to the success of the thrift store.

“We get a lot of new customers just by word of mouth,” said Mrs. Konuch. “Our thrift store receives new merchandise every day, and the volunteers price it and put it out in the store.”

She noted that no donation goes to waste.

“The thrift store recycles what they can’t use,” she said. “If something doesn’t sell, it eventually finds its way to the seasonal room where it will be sold for much less, and we also have a free table.”

Unforeseen growth

Ms. Bischler worked for IBM for 30 years, then took care of her mother, who had advanced Alzheimer’s disease.

After her mother died, she started noticing requests for volunteers each Sunday in the Our Lady of the Lake Parish bulletin.

“I started coming in 2008 or ’09,” she said. “It kind of gets into your blood. You feel like you’re part of something important. It gives you a sense of purpose and fulfillment.”

She worked with some of Hope House’s founders and has watched the ministry grow.

“I don’t think anyone at the beginning foresaw what it would become,” she said. “It was going to stay the size it originally was, and that was it. It wound up growing because we all began to see how much greater the needs were.”

Ms. Bischler, who prices merchandise three days a week, said it’s fun getting to know the thrift store customers.

Some travel from as far as Iowa or Arkansas to find affordable additions to their wardrobe.

Some say: “You’ve got the most wonderful thrift store we’ve seen anywhere,” she noted.

Some of the most popular items are women’s blouses, she said.

“In God’s image”

Mr. Amann believes that if the Hope House food pantry is helping 400 to 450 families per month, there are surely that many more who need the assistance but don’t ask for it.

“We’d love to have them start coming,” he said. “Some just don’t know about us, but some don’t come because they’re proud or don’t think they deserve it.

“I would say to those people: ‘God wants you to have this, and we supply it to all the people we possibly can in this community that we serve who need it,’” he said.

Mrs. Konuch said an older gentleman recently told her through tears that it was the first time he’d ever needed to ask for this kind of assistance.

“I told him that he’s why we’re here,” she said. “That’s why we have all these volunteers, ready to fill a cart with food and give it to you. It puts a smile on their faces … and on mine.”

Mr. Amann noted that some of the clients have disabilities and struggle in every aspect of living.

“I can only imagine what their daily lives are like,” he said. “It humbles you to see how much we often take for granted.”

Some clients are homeless.

“For them, we have sleeping bags and blankets for the winter, coolers for the summer, along with boxes of canned goods and personal items,” said Mr. Amann.

Others just seem lost.

“But they know we’ll treat them like people made in God’s image, as opposed to something less, which I think happens to them a lot,” Mr. Amann said.

He asked for prayers for the continued success of the Hope House thrift store and food pantry operations, for the health and safety of the volunteers, “and for our clients who are in desperate need for not only the food we give them but also for God, and being a part of the community.”

People make it work

Mr. Amann said Hope House runs so well because the volunteers are dedicated and hard-working.

“We’ve got a wonderful group of volunteers who are here each day we’re open,” he said. “They get it done!”

Whenever a longtime volunteer steps away due to health or other circumstances, pastors put out the word from their pulpits.

“And it’s almost immediate that we get that new volunteer,” said Mr. Amann.

Volunteers from the general public, churches, civic organizations, businesses and schools are always welcome.

New volunteers are quickly initiated into the ranks.

Service days from local schools can be particularly helpful.

“You can look around and tell that most of us are up in years,” Mr. Amann noted. “So, when we get some younger people in, it makes a big difference for us.”

“A temple of love”

In addition to the local churches, the community and the Hope House volunteers bought Christmas gifts for 104 children in need in the area.

“It’s incredible,” said Mrs. Konuch. “And while they’re bringing in the gifts, they say, ‘Thank you for including me. I want to do this again next year.’”

Deacon Hankins marveled at the cooperation and friendships that flourish at Hope House among volunteers of many faith backgrounds and traditions.

He said God blesses the time, talent and treasure people regularly give to Hope House, which raises up the lowly and gives God glory.

“Jesus made us custodians of mercy through the supporting and assisting of our neighbors, as if they were Jesus in disguise,” Deacon Hankins stated.

“Through our stewardship, we live the faith Jesus taught us — a faith where we can build an indestructible foundation, a temple of love for God and our neighbors,” he said.

For information about Hope House of Miller County, call 573-365-0099 or visit: hopehouseofmillercounty.org