Harbor Country Food Pantry to occupy historic church building - Harborcountry News

Harbor Country Food Pantry to occupy historic church building - Harborcountry News
THREE OAKS — The Harbor Country Emergency Food Pantry and Thrift Shop will be moving to a new home at 301 N. Elm St. in Three Oaks in December 2016.

While the name of the Food Pantry will be unchanged, the Thrift Shop will be called “The Gathering Thrift Shop,” to honor the history and heritage of the Gathering Church RCA which occupied the building for many years.

Ron Ahrens, the church’s pastor for 12 years before his recent retirement, said the congregation first started meeting north of the village as the First Reformed Church of Three Oaks in 1883.

The building at 301 North Elm St. (first dedicated in August of 1869) was home to a Baptist group until the World War I era, when that congregation disbanded and the facility was essentially given to the First Reformed group. In the early 1930s he said they managed to raise up the building and install a basement using a horse attached to a drag skid. An addition at the west end of the building was built in the early 1960s.

The Harbor Country Emergency Food Pantry Board of Directors purchased the Gathering Church building last winter from the Reformed Church in America. Since then contractors have installed a required elevator, a main floor handicapped accessible rest room, air conditioning in the Thrift Shop and a pair of large dressing rooms.

The total investment in the building, including the purchase price, will be over $225,000.

The Gathering Thrift Shop will be located on the main floor which had been the sanctuary of the church. Also on that floor will be the office, which will offer greater privacy for clients. The Thrift Shop can be reached through the front door facing Elm Street or through the Office/Food Pantry entrance off Beech Street. The elevator is located just inside that entrance.

The Food Pantry will be located at the lower level, which had been the fellowship room for the church. Clients, after visiting the office, will be able to shop for needed food items which will be arranged on convenient shelves. The elevator will assist clients in transporting their selections to the Beech Street entrance.

The current Thrift Shop and Food Pantry building at 6 S. Elm St., which is owned by the Harbor Country Emergency Food Pantry, will be renamed “The Gathering Boutique” and reconfigured to display and sell items that are collectable, vintage, or antique plus higher value clothing.

Current plans are for the Gathering Thrift Shop and Food Pantry to be open Tuesday through Friday. The Gathering Boutique will be open Friday, Saturday and Monday.

Both stores will be operated by volunteers since the Harbor Country Emergency Food Pantry has no paid staff.

The exact opening date of the new facility and the Gathering Boutique will depend on how quickly the volunteers and people from the community can relocate the inventory. Community volunteers are encouraged to contact Linda Mangold at the 6 S. Elm St. building. The phone number is (269) 756-7472. Anyone wishing to make a contribution to the project may send a check to HCEFP, P.O. Box 113, Three Oaks MI 49128.

The Harbor Country Emergency Food Pantry assists area households in many ways such as helping to put food on the table, keeping the heat on, preventing evictions and keeping essential services from being disconnected or getting them turned back on. Mangold said client referrals come from all over the community — the schools, local pastors, friends or even those who walk in.