There’s a new storefront open in downtown Wellman that is selling items to the public while providing lessons to the purveyors. The Thrift Shop, at 265 8th Avenue, is a venture operated by students in Mid-Prairie High School’s Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) chapter. A wide front window welcomes those passing by on the street with eye-catching items for sale. Inside you are greeted by crisp decorations of new paint and wallpaper in a southwestern motif, a front desk, displays of items for purchase and helpful high school students. Through social media and word of mouth, the kids got to work securing donations from places like the Tanger outlet mall in Williamsburg and families within the district, while volunteering their own time to get the project off the ground. The students made a presentation to the Mid-Prairie School Board at a meeting earlier this month, outlining the final project, securing approval for a one-year lease of the property and corporate authorization for a stand alone checking account for the Thrift Shop. This week, teacher Sarah O’Rourke and her students spoke with KCII news about the experience and getting ready to open the store. Mid-Prairie students Mya Miller, Brynn Young, Tyler Helmuth and Bridget Fisher remarked, “It sounded like a real cool idea and fun to be able to be a part of opening up a business. Making an impact on future students that will go through FCCLA. We’re excited to see how much money can be raised and if the thrift shop idea and how it works in the long run. Also helping community members and adding something to the community to bring more business downtown.”
O’Rourke said,”We had a great idea with the thrift shop where we could benefit students and get community members involved. We could serve the town of Wellman at the same time and give the students the opportunity to have an on-site work experience. Everyone in the school and the community has been nothing but awesome, but nothing but expected. This is a great reflection of what we’ve got going at the high school student and community support-wise. All of the workplace learning skills (have been important). Working with other people. Problem-solving, being flexible, persistent. A lot of the things that we had to go through to get to this point were frustrating. Even just the legal side. The non-shiny parts of this project were invaluable for them to see.”
An open house was held Thursday evening, with a weekend-long grand opening Friday and Saturday from 9a.m. to 5p.m. and Sunday from 10a.m. to 2p.m. to coincide with the Rural Road Trip event. The Thrift Shop will be open during a schedule of “Market Days” when there are activities happening in the area such as Wellman City Wide Garage Sales May 6th and 7th, the Wellman Farmer’s Market, July 4th Celebration and Back To School. Profits from the store will be used to help construct an outdoor classroom at the high school. Along with the monies raised at The Thrift Shop, students will be working on writing grants.
For a full interview with O’Rourke and the students working on this project catch the Thursday, April 21st In Touch With Southeast Iowa Program in the podcast section at KCIIradio.com.