Caring Hands Thrift Shop Offers Help and Prayers

Within the walls of the Caring Hands Thirft Shop, at 1002 S. Bridge St., in Yorkville, amazing things take place.

Although the store is a resale store, manager Kathy Braden  says everyone who works and volunteers there are ready with a friendly ear, a shoulder to cry on or a prayer, whatever their clients need. 

“One lady was at our very first store, she was a pretty frequent shopper. She came in one day and she came over and said she just wanted to tell me that her son had passed away 8 days ago from an accidental drug overdose,” Braden said. “She said something just told her to go to Caring Hands. We still stood in the aisle and cried.
Braden said it is not unusual for stories like this to happen at Caring Hands.

“She showed me a picture of her son and it was just a loose picture in her purse and I said let’s find a picture frame for it,” she said. “I think that’s what makes us different than other stores. We don’t care if we stop and talk with someone or pray with someone. That’s’ what we do.

“That’s just a part of who we are.”

Caring Hands is an extension of Cross Lutheran Church in Yorkville.

“For many years, I ran a garage sale at church,” Braden said. “After the garage sales were over, I would take the nicer things and store them in my basement and when people would have a fire or a flood, I would go get the sizes they needed.

“I thought wouldn’t it be good if people had a place to go where they could pick things out themselves.”

She presented the idea to the church and the thrift store was born from there. Before its current location, Caring Hands was located on East Van Emmon and Bridge Street. Now the store layout has more functionality.

“It’s laid out differently so there is more usable space,” Braden said.

Like many thrift stores, Caring Hands relies on donations to stock the shelves.

“We have your usual thrift shop items like clothes and household goods, book toys, shoes and all the usual,” Braden said.

While the store relies on shoppers to provide revenue, they are also part of a Lutheran early response team and can provide items to people who lost everything in a disaster for no cost. They also have a small food pantry to help bridge the gap when families cannot get to the larger one in Kendall County. Even when people are donating items, Branek says the ministry becomes part of what they do.

“A gentleman brought in a tattered suitcase with wife’s things; It told the story of her life,” she said. “It was just packed in there with so much love. It’s so important for people that are grieving to be able to have someone to talk to when they bring that loved ones belongings in."

“It’s a part of this ministry we didn’t expect when we started.”