“Sales have increased over the year as word of mouth about the quality of our store gets out,” Yenchko said. He also made cosmetic changes that included adding shelving units.Īnd Hope is now on Facebook, where upcoming sales are posted. Once a storage area, it is now filled with racks of summer clothing. The biggest change since Scibelli took over is the opening of the second floor. And people planning yard sales drop by as well. The clothes are cheap, so they save money, Scibelli continued. High school and college students stop by, too. We even have tourists who have a free day and come here.” There’s a whole community out there that go from one thrift shop to another. “Thrift shops used to have a bad connotation, that it was for poor people and sold garbage. “The nice thing is, things are being reused instead of landing in a landfill,” Scibelli said. An entire collection of vintage comic books was a recent gift. Someone once donated a Fender guitar, and someone else gave the store a piece of African art. Scibelli remains impressed by the variety of items that are donated. He has a great background in retail, and even more than that, he loves serving people.” “We’re absolutely delighted that Joe is the new leader of our thrift store. “He had huge shoes to fill when Karen moved,” Yenchko said. When Connolly said she was moving, Yenchko asked Scibelli to take over. He increased his volunteer hours, because he found that being at Hope was therapeutic. When Cathy died in April 2018, Joe donated her clothing to Hope. “I had signed up to be a volunteer, and a couple of months after I stopped in, Karen called me up and asked if I could be a volunteer.” “Karen asked me what was wrong, and when I told her about Cathy, she prayed with me,” Scibelli said. When Cathy was diagnosed with cancer, Joe, who was depressed, wandered into the thrift store. He and his wife, Cathy, had donated to Hope for years. Scibelli is a retired New York City program manager, and managed the A&P grocery store in Great Neck in the 1970s. Scibelli has been managing the store since last July, after Karen Connolly, who had been in charge since Hope’s beginnings, moved to Tennessee. “And I hear a lot of interesting stories here, because people are interesting.” ![]() “For me, being here is a ministry for God,” she said. “To know that the money being raised is for those in need makes me want to be here.”ĭoris Minogue, of Hicksville, a staff member who started out as a volunteer, feels much the same way. “Here I’m blessed to be a blessing to others,” Groff said. A retiree, she said that volunteering at Hope is a great way for her to be with people, but it provides even more. Seven of the nine people who work at the store are volunteers, one of whom is Barbara Groff, of Syosset, who said she is committed to organizing the racks of clothing and the wide variety of items on the shelves. They’re glad to donate their gently used clothing and household items when they know it’s going to a good cause.” “There is a delightful thrift store subculture on Long Island, and people are always looking for a bargain. ![]() “Hope for Long Island is offering, well, hope, for those who need help, and a shopping adventure for those who love a good bargain,” Yenchko said. All of Hope’s profits go to the church’s Benevolent Fund, which serves single mothers, youth ministries and community outreach programs. John Yenchko, had the idea of opening a thrift shop, having done so at his previous church in Philadelphia. But when the variety store closed in 2015, Hope moved to a larger space around the corner, on Audrey Avenue, behind the original location of the Oyster Bay Rail Road Museum. Hope, which is run by Oyster Bay’s North Shore Community Church, originally set up shop in the hamlet’s Buckingham Old Fashioned Variety Store in 2006, renting a portion of the store.
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