When Carol Rose started volunteering at the Women's Resource Center Thrift Store in 1986, it was in a small building on Hannah Street in Traverse City.

It was small. Cramped. Hard to see from the street.

"It had bad wiring. When it rained we had buckets to catch the water," she said. "It was so much fun."

Five moves later, the store is located on U.S. 31 — with another location on South Airport Road — and it's grown from a small will-this-survive fundraising effort to a busy and popular destination for thrift shoppers that now provides about half of the revenue for the Women's Resource Center, fueling their work with hundreds of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault each year.

Rose has watched the store grow and change over the years.

"The moms came in with the kids. The kids are now coming in with their kids," she said. "Our customer base has built right along with our store, and then we got put here, so we’re doing great now because now we get summer people. But that’s not who supports you. It’s the local people who support this place."

And she has a million stories, like the one about the guy who brought in a Christmas tree, which they festooned with gloves, hats and boots for the taking.

Or the woman who left her kids in the car while shopping, and how she burst into tears when store personnel offered to watch them and let them sit in the office and color while the mom shopped.

Or how she put out a call for winter wear one year and was overwhelmed almost immediately with donations.

The store has a little bit of everything, from clothing to Halloween costumes to pots and pans. An old church pew arrived on Monday and was sold and waiting for pickup on Tuesday. There's art, cards, bookcases and even a few unknown objects.

"We have things come in sometimes that we don’t know what they are," Rose said. "We slap a tag on it, I tell them ‘When the person buys it, ask them what it is, next time we’ll know.’ That’s how we do it.”

For her 40 years of work, the Women’s Resource Center is giving her the Mary Lee Lord Legacy Award. Its namesake was a beloved executive director from 1999 until her death in 2006.

Rose knew her well, and says Lord changed the way the entire community thought about — and spoke about — domestic violence.

"We used to be in the position to whisper about domestic violence. Nobody wanted to hear about it. Nobody wanted to talk about it. Mary Lee made you yell about it," Rose said. "She demanded they pay attention, she demanded women got the help they needed, she did it with such dignity and fun and kindness that you had to listen to her."

That work continues today at the Women's Resource Center and even in the store.

Rose will be the first to tell you that her job is to run the store and, when needed, connect people to resources — that she herself is not the resource.

But she says the store has been an important gateway to help over the years.

"So many people come through my door that need to just talk. They need to just be heard. They need somebody that isn’t going to make a judgement. They’re not ready, they’re too scared to make that leap, to go get real help," she said. "I don’t have to advise them, I just have to listen. ... I let them tell their story, they hear their story, sometimes for the first time out loud and then I give them a card (with resources). I’ve actually dialed the number when I want them to really reach out.”

The Women's Resource Center offers a 24/7 crisis line at 800-554-4972.

Producer: Austin Rowlader
Editor: Steve Junker
Host: Ed Ronco
Music: Blue Dot Sessions

An interview with Brenda Parker and Chantal McDaniel.

Do you shop resale? Do you have a favorite thrift shop?

The business of selling second-hand goods has become a $13 billion industry in this country annually.

It's grown about 7% over each of the past two years.

Now you'll find resale, thrift and consignment shops in most Michigan cities and towns.

What's behind the growth? And what does this "resale" economy offer us?

We're joined by Brenda Parker. She is a professor of Urban Planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She recently coauthored a piece on the restructuring of retail economies in this era of e-commerce.

And we welcome Chantal McDaniel. She is based in Grand Rapids, and she writes a thrift fashion blog called "Thrift Trick: Miles of Fashion on a Shoestring."

Listen to the full interview above.

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