Portage Resale Shop Ministries

Portage Resale Shop

A General History from Community Idea to Christian Ministry

Portage Resale Shop began with a simple question: How could the churches and people of Portage work together to meet practical needs in their community? More than two decades later, the organization still answers that question through affordable goods, direct assistance, volunteer service, and financial support for other local ministries. The buildings, programs, and methods have changed, but the central purpose has remained the same: to follow Jesus Christ's command to love one another by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking in the stranger, and serving every neighbor with dignity.

How the Ministry Began

The roots of Portage Resale Shop reach back to the relationships formed among local pastors around the time of September 11, 2001. Pastors from different congregations were gathering for prayer and learning to work across denominational lines. Those relationships created a foundation of trust and cooperation before anyone knew that a resale ministry would grow from them.

Then-Mayor Doug Olson brought the pastors a practical community concern. Portage needed a place where donated clothing and household goods could be put to use rather than wasted, and where the needs of local families could be addressed in an organized way. Thirteen churches joined the effort. Planning took shape during 2003, and Portage Resale Shop opened to the public on January 13, 2004. The nonprofit organization was formally established in 2007.

From the beginning, the shop was intended to be more than a place to sell secondhand merchandise. Donated goods were a tool through which churches, volunteers, civic leaders, donors, and customers could work together. The ministry's guiding convictions came from Jesus Christ's command to love one another and His words in Matthew 25 calling His followers to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and take in the stranger. The resale shop would be the tool; Christian love expressed through practical compassion would be the mission.

The Portage Mall Years

The first location was in the Portage Mall, in a building the City of Portage made available for the symbolic rent of one dollar per year. That extraordinary arrangement gave the young organization room to learn without carrying the burden of ordinary commercial rent. The city provided space, the churches offered leadership, donors supplied merchandise, and volunteers supplied the labor.

The early years were experimental and energetic. Procedures were developed as needs arose. Volunteer roles formed naturally, and each donation or customer interaction taught another lesson. The shop accepted clothing, furniture, household goods, books, toys, and many other items. Pricing was more traditional than it is today, and because occupancy costs were so low, much of the money raised could be given to churches and community causes. In those years, Portage Resale Shop supported projects ranging from youth activities to practical assistance for seniors and families.

That original model accomplished a great deal of good. It also established a culture that continues today: donated goods do not exist merely to produce revenue. They are resources entrusted by God to the organization so they can become affordable necessities, direct assistance, or support for another organization doing work the shop cannot do itself.

Eventually, the city prepared to demolish the building, and the resale shop had to leave its first home. What looked like an ending became the beginning of a more difficult and formative chapter.

The South Haven Years

The shop moved from the Portage Mall to a rented location in South Haven. The move preserved the ministry, but the financial conditions changed dramatically. Instead of paying one dollar per year, the organization now carried rent, property taxes, utilities, and the normal expenses of operating a resale shop. A model that had been able to give away much of what it earned was suddenly responsible for substantial overhead.

Those middle years were often financially difficult. There were times when money from the register had to reach the bank quickly so expenses could be covered. Leadership transitions added uncertainty, and survival could not be taken for granted. Yet the South Haven years were also when the ministry began to understand more clearly who it was and what it could do especially well.

The rooms were filled with clothing, furniture, and household goods. Over time, the organization recognized that these items did not always need to be converted into money before they could accomplish good. They were already the things families needed. Relationships with social-service agencies expanded, and referred clients began receiving clothing and necessities after fires, housing transitions, family crises, and other emergencies.

This period also gave rise to one of the ministry's defining commitments. The board adopted the biblical tithe principle and chose to give 10 percent of gross sales—not whatever might remain after expenses—to organizations serving needs such as hunger and shelter. Making that commitment while the shop was struggling required faith. It became a lasting expression of the belief that everything belongs to God and that the organization is a steward rather than an owner of what it receives. Over the years, volunteers have often called the unexpected provision that followed this practice "God's math."

The coat ministry grew from the same conviction. After seeing a father and child inadequately dressed during severe winter weather, the shop could no longer view the coats on its racks only as merchandise. If they had been donated to God's work, they belonged to God and should be used to clothe people who needed them. The shop began giving coats away, and across the years more than 45,000 coats have been distributed.

Returning to Portage

By 2013, Portage Christian Fellowship had a building and property in Portage that could become a permanent home for the ministry. The opportunity was generous, but the building did not automatically become a functioning resale shop. The organization had roughly thirty days to prepare the site and complete the move.

Volunteers and supporters removed walls, adapted rooms, created changing areas, prepared a donation entrance and deck, moved inventory, and reorganized a building designed for church use into a working resale ministry. New volunteers were recruited through social media, and many people took responsibility for different parts of the transition. The move required planning, physical labor, generosity, and faith that the work could be completed in time.

The move took place in August 2013. Portage Resale Shop planned and organized the work around an expected team of 30 volunteers. Instead, 135 people arrived to help. With so many willing hands, the move proceeded smoothly, efficiently, and far more quickly than the organization could have accomplished on its own. The remarkable turnout was understood as a miracle of God's provision: the Lord supplied far beyond what the ministry had planned, expected, asked, or imagined, and every volunteer helped make the transition possible.

The shop opened at the current Evergreen Avenue location that same month. Furniture sales were discontinued because large items consumed too much space and placed too great a physical burden on volunteers. The building and property were received as a gift in connection with the 2013 move, giving the ministry a permanent home. The property had served first as a YMCA and later as a church; its former sanctuary became the showroom. The form of ministry changed, but the building remained devoted to serving people. Rent ended, but responsibility did not. The organization became responsible for an aging roof, parking lot, grounds, multiple furnaces and air-conditioning units, and every other part of a large physical plant.

Pricing evolved during the years at the Evergreen Avenue location. Complicated categories and special sale days gradually gave way to one-dollar clothing days, then two days each week, and eventually one-dollar clothing every day. The goal was not to extract the highest possible price from every item. It was to make necessities accessible while using occasional higher-value donations to help support the larger work.

A Gift of Land Becomes Housing

Receiving the property raised an important stewardship question: Did every part of the land need to remain under the shop's control, or could some of it accomplish more in the hands of another organization? Portage Resale Shop ultimately chose to donate most of the surrounding land—approximately six acres valued at more than $500,000—to Housing Opportunities.

The process began around 2020 and was completed by deed in 2022. The land was intended to support housing for people experiencing homelessness, including a development serving as many as 48 families. The gift reflected the same Christian stewardship principle that had shaped the tithe and coat ministries: what God places in our hands is not always meant to remain there. Something entrusted to the shop may fulfill its greatest purpose when it is released to meet another person's need.

Growth Through Change and Crisis

The current location allowed the shop to grow, but growth did not come from abandoning its earlier lessons. Late in 2019, one-dollar clothing became the everyday model. Families could outfit themselves and their children without sacrificing other necessities, while the volume of affordable sales strengthened the ministry. The final months of 2019 also produced an unusually strong financial season, providing resources just before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the store to close for approximately twelve weeks in 2020.

During that closure, retail income stopped completely and only a small group of volunteers could continue necessary work. Even so, the organization continued meeting its obligations and honoring its commitment to give to partner ministries. Looking back, the unusually strong months before the shutdown appeared to be God's provision arriving before the need could be seen. The experience reinforced a theme visible throughout the shop's history: faithful stewardship in one season often prepares the ministry for a need it cannot yet see.

How Portage Resale Shop Operates Today

Today, Portage Resale Shop combines several forms of community service in one operating model while continuing to live out the call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and take in the stranger. Donated clothing and household goods are sold at very low prices, with all clothing priced at one dollar. Individuals referred by more than 90 community agencies may receive needed items without charge. Coats, hats, gloves, and scarves are distributed throughout the winter, and emergency assistance is provided when families face fires, displacement, or other crises.

Sales also allow the ministry to support organizations that specialize in work beyond the shop's own capacity. Each month, a portion of gross—not net—sales is given to partners that provide food, shelter, housing, recovery services, refugee assistance, and care for children and families. Rather than attempt to operate every kind of social-service program, Portage Resale Shop focuses on what it can do well and strengthens organizations equipped to do the rest.

The work remains heavily volunteer-driven. Approximately 50 volunteers now contribute around 1,500 hours in a typical month. They receive donations, sort and prepare merchandise, assist customers, maintain the building, and create the welcoming atmosphere that gives the organization its character. The shop may have a permanent address, but its familiar saying remains true: the shop is not a place; it is people.

The present chapter includes significant stewardship of the facility itself. After replacing a failed roof with cash in 2025, the organization launched the Pave the Way campaign to replace the deteriorated parking lot and update aging heating and cooling systems. These projects are not separate from the mission. A safe, accessible, dependable building allows volunteers to serve, donors to give, and families to receive help with dignity.

From a one-dollar lease in the Portage Mall to a permanent home serving thousands of neighbors, Portage Resale Shop has grown by adapting its methods while protecting its purpose. Its history is not simply the story of donated merchandise moving through three buildings. It is the story of Christians and community neighbors working together, trusting God's provision, and turning what has been entrusted to them into practical compassion—then giving part of it away so the work can continue beyond the shop's own doors.