Giving new life to creativity and community

By Rev. Corey Turnpenny, Church in the Wild | Email

Editor’s Note: Church in the Wild, an Upper New York New Faith Community in the Binghamton District. The alternative eco-spiritual community was recently awarded an EarthKeepers grant from UMCOR in the amount of $6,500 to support their Creative ReUse thrift store. 

In 2024, a board member at Church in the Wild suggested we open a creative reuse thrift store as a way to help support the church and provide low-cost art supplies to the community. After doing some research we found there were creative reuse stores all over the world! The idea seemed like the perfect fit for our church and community. As a Wild Church, we are always looking for ways to promote and support sustainability. 

Our community has lots of thrift stores but not one specifically for arts and craft supplies. Two of our three local art supply stores have closed in the past several years, leaving our community in need. As costs rise across the board, folks are looking for ways of saving money, and buying used is quickly becoming preferred. 

People everywhere have more arts and craft supplies than they can realistically use, but they don't want to just throw them away or even donate them to a regular thrift store. Our church is a small and vibrant community seeking sustainable ways of funding our ministries. The idea of starting a creative reuse store seemed like a win-win-win, benefitting the planet, our community, and our church.

We tried to start small, but on our first donation day, we collected over 1,000 pounds of used arts and crafts materials. We stored everything in a garage space at our local council of churches and began selling supplies for a donation at craft fairs and other events. We hosted craft nights and used the supplies for all kinds of ministry projects. We donated hundreds of pounds to a local community center, volunteers who make sleeping bags for the unhoused, and other local non-profits. 

For two years we limped along, accepting what we could fit in the garage and a small office space and hauling our reuse wares to the farmers' market each month. Finally, this spring, we found a space for rent that was affordable and large enough to house us and partners who could help share the cost of rent. We put out the call for volunteer store clerks with the promise of a bag of supplies each time they work a shift. In just two months, we had a team of a dozen volunteers and a reuse store brimming with thousands of pounds of supplies. 

On our opening day, we welcomed over 150 customers into our store and raised $2,000 in donations! With the support of the EarthKeepers grant from UMCOR, we will be able to continue improving our space as well as offer quarterly Repair Cafes where experts fix and mend broken items. We're only a month in but Broome Creative ReUse is already bearing great fruit. It is a true site of resurrection, where items are given new life, and people find tools for creative expression they can afford. We can't wait to see how God continues to use this creative community environment to bring people together and nurture our souls. 

Donations are accepted during regular store hours on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 3-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9-1 p.m. at the Broome Creative ReUse location at 21 Madison Avenue in Endicott. Click here to view a full list of items accepted and to learn more.