Saturday marks the opening of the StrongHer Generation thrift store in Gainesville, Virginia — part of the Virginia Women and Family Support Center‘s effort to provide safe, stable, long-term housing for women and their children.
“The fastest growing homeless population in the United States are women and children,” said Frances Robin, executive director of the nonprofit agency. “That includes women who are pregnant and homeless with children, sleeping in the streets, in their cars — they tend not to go to shelters, but sleep in hotels or in their storage units.”
“The Virginia Women and Family Support Center is a two-year housing program for those women and their children. We teach them the skills they need to become independent and self-sufficient,” Robin said.
Having a stable home can help women focus on rebuilding their lives with dignity and focus.
“It gives moms an address to use for job searches, to connect with their community, to have interviews, and to go to doctors appointments,” Robin said. “And it gives children an opportunity to be picked up at their house by a school bus, and to have the confidence that they have a permanent, safe home to come home from on that bus.”
Why a thrift store?
The nonprofit support center for women and their children gets the majority of its funding from private donors. Last year saw “a significant dip in our funding sources, so we had to get creative,” Robin said.
On Saturday, the VAWFSC will open the new StrongHer Generation store, located on Glenkirk Road in Gainesville. Robin said 100% of the proceeds from the store will go toward providing long-term housing for women and their children.
Standing between well-organized racks of clothing and jewelry, Robin said, “We have gently used clothing and furniture, books, shoes, purses, bags, dishes, linens — those are just some of the things.”
Browsing through the store, shoppers see everything from glass cake containers to several sets of golf clubs to a full-size church organ.
“All these items are coming from members of our wonderful, generous community,” Robin said.
Saturday’s grand opening hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. After that, the store will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
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