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A partnership between the Redding (California) Home League and the local thrift store benefits both.
If you stop by The Salvation Army Redding (California) Corps on a Tuesday morning, you’ll find a group of women absorbed in rolling up yarn, reassembling sewing pattern kits and patching up other used craft items—supplies that might otherwise be thrown away. The group has been doing this for more than 20 years.
Redding Corps Officer Major Tammy Ray said that’s when a partnership between the corps and the local Salvation Army thrift store began. Anything that looks “crafty” is held at the store for the women’s group, called the Home League, to process, including rug-making kits, rubber stamps and scrapbooking materials.
“We receive all of the craft supplies, the yarn, fabric, all of that,” Ray said. “And then we process it, measure it, get it ready, price it and put it in a little section at the thrift store. And they sell it and that money comes to our Home League.”
Since the partnership began in 2001, Ray estimates nearly $70,000 has been raised by the Home League, but it doesn’t stop there. The group uses the funds for a variety of causes, both near and far, including The Salvation Army World Service projects, and efforts in Northern California and the Western U.S.
They’ve used the money to send kids to summer camp and to buy gifts for nursing home residents. Their 2024 vision board displays what they hope to accomplish this year, including making Valentine’s for veterans and purchasing a goat for a family through Samaritan’s Purse.
“This has been a very lucrative project for our Home League,” Ray said, adding the monthly income from the effort is typically between $250-$450.
The group has everything they need to get the items ready, including pricing guns and special price tags so the funds will be directed back to the Home League. Once a week, members go to the thrift store to pick up new donations and to restock their own section with the refurbished goods.
Home League member Darlene Madsen said the items are priced to sell.
“Shoppers actually wait for us,” she said. “They know we come in on a certain day. We’ve actually been putting yarn on the shelf while someone is taking it off to buy it. They’re buying everything.”
This past year, the Home League adopted a couple of the more remote Salvation Army corps in Alaska—Angoon and Kake—finding out what they needed, purchasing and packaging the items, and mailing them to the corps.
Then the Maui fires, the Home League wanted to do something to help.
“Our ladies were talking about it,” Ray said. “We were praying for the Lahaina Home League and the ladies there, and we just really were feeling burdened for them.”
They decided to send the money to help them start meeting again. Going through the appropriate Salvation Army channels, they sent $1,000 earmarked for the Lahaina Home League.
Sometimes the need is right at home in Redding. After some recent water damage in its kitchen, the corps needs a new stove and the Home League is going to fund it. They’re also working on purchasing a new mobile kitchen for the corps’ emergency/disaster response.
Madsen said the group calls themselves the “holy rollers,” because they’re always rolling up craft supplies.
“But it’s not all work,” said Home League Secretary Coleen Schofield. “We do have fun. We get to go out on outings, and we try to eat out once a quarter.”
Ray said the longevity of the project is a testament to the longevity of the Home League and its members.
“They want to be a blessing and a support to others in other situations,” she said. “We’re always talking about how we can use the money.”
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