Community thrift store in need of new porch

Jana Mathia, Gazette Reporter | Mar 22, 20180

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outreach porch

The LaCrosse food bank serves about one in every four households in the LaCrosse area, including Winona, Hay and Hooper. Support of that food bank is the sole duty of the LaCrosse Community Outreach Center, a thrift store run by local volunteers.

“We’re the heart of LaCrosse,” is the slogan of the outreach. That heart is struggling a little now to care for its infrastructure.

About six weeks ago the outreach was given an estimate of $15,000 to remove the building’s front porch and steps and put in cement steps.

“It’s just in really bad shape,” said Lois Olmstead, outreach treasurer, of the porch.

The outreach store is a small house that was gifted about eight years ago to the outreach for use as the store because it helped support the food bank. Now the front porch of that house is bad enough, and the plan is to remove it entirely.

The porch and front door are the main entrance for the thrift store, which is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Olmstead said they would like to be open more, but lack the manpower at this time for more hours. With the limited hours, the porch is also the prime area for donation drop-offs. Olmstead expressed concern about having a covered space for those after-hour donations once the porch is gone, but there are no plans currently for another type of shelter.

The outreach volunteers are rolling up their sleeves now to raise the money. They started with a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon at The Gathering Place on Saturday. A potato bar is planned for after Easter to continue the fund-raising.

The outreach is working to be more user-friendly at the store and on-line. Olmstead noted they have been working in the store and pushing to list more inventory on the LaCrosse Community Outreach Thrift Store and Food Bank Facebook page.