photo Debbie Reth of the Wallowa United Methodist ReSale Shop presents a check to Marilyn Hulse of the Friends of the Wallowa Library, while volunteers, left to right, Ann Farmer, Margie Hudson and June Jones look on.

WALLOWA – A resale operation in Wallowa is not only selling clothing, toys and other items to folks at a very reasonable price, but also raising money for good community causes.

The Wallowa Resale Shop is a project of the Wallowa Methodist Church, which usually puts on one or two rummage sales a year in the basement of their large church building on Main Street in Wallowa.

A couple of women from the church, Debbie Reth and Margie Hudson, wondered about doing the same kind of thing more often and putting the money to work in the community.

“We thought of calling ourselves Soroptimist West,'” joked Reth, who admitted that the ongoing success of the Soroptimist Shop in Enterprise was an inspiration. She likes to say the new shop is “helping our town, twenty-five cents at a time.”

Reth credits a lot of people for birth of the resale shop, which opened in April, especially Gene and Eunice Hayes, who allowed the Wallowa Methodist group to open the resale business into the Hayes Gallery space, on Main Street across from the old Coleman and Chrisman building, for a nominal rent.

The two entities, the gallery and the resale store, got along great throughout the summer, with the resale folks and the Hayes taking turns minding the collective shop.

The Wallowa Resale Store’s purpose is to return the profits from the store to Wallowa and nearby communities. Its first donation was to sponsor a meal at the Enterprise and Wallowa Senior meal site in September, and the shop was able to donate $100 to the Friends of the Wallowa Library.

Reth said the store is ready to make a few more donations and also would like to get the word out that it plans to be open through the winter.

Another piece of good news is that the Friends of the Wallowa Library are now on board as volunteers to help run the store to help with fundraising for the library.

The shop will also be the Wallowa distribution site for the annual Rotary-sponsored Coats for Kids project.

The store offers clothing, including a great choice of children’s and teenagers’ clothes, as well as books, music, appliances, houseware, linens, tools and other items, all for great prices.

For now hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, though one day may be cut from the schedule this winter.