NEWBERG, Ore. — When Francesca Batchler lost her husband of 40 years to a head-on collision in 2019, she fell into a deep emptiness that left her moving from her bed to her couch and living in despair, she said. After a month of being alone, Batchler decided she needed something more.
“I thought to myself, ‘What have I been taught at the pulpit all my life?'” Batchler said. “‘When things are rough, and you’re going through hard times, the best thing to do is help your fellow man.'”
After a short period of searching for a cause, Batchler started volunteering at the Newberg Thrift Shop, a store run entirely by volunteers that donates its proceeds to local organizations. At the thrift shop, she found a community of mostly women, many of whom had been through experiences similar to hers. It was there that she also found a deeper sense of purpose in her service.
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The Newberg Thrift Shop sits between Memorial Park and the Public Works building at 414 E. Third St. It is open Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it accepts donations every day until 3 p.m.
Batchler met Laura Young, who had also lost her husband around the same time, at the thrift shop. Young had started volunteering at the shop in 2015. Together, the two currently make up half of the board of directors, with Young serving as president and Batchler as vice president and shop director. Mark Raia serves as building manager, and David Fugate is secretary and treasurer.
A Legacy of Volunteerism
Young and Batchler’s work running the Newberg Thrift Shop continues a long legacy of volunteers who have worked for more than 70 years to keep the thrift shop running and giving back to the community.
In the late 1940s, community members in Newberg decided it was time to build their own city-funded public hospital. The cost to build the hospital was set at $250,000.
By April 1949, more than 300 volunteers had organized a large campaign and begun soliciting funds for construction. Letters were sent to schools, a radio program was broadcast on KGW, sermons included a hospital theme, and speakers were scheduled for various union meetings and other organizations. However, none of these efforts raised enough money, and the campaign was abandoned around 1951.
Then, in 1954, according to a 1957 Daily News-Register article, efforts were renewed three years after raising enough funds had been deemed impossible. The revived effort was led by the women of the newly formed Newberg Hospital Auxiliary, a fundraising group determined to bring the long-awaited hospital to the Newberg community.
Mrs. Lowell Newby was the first president of the auxiliary, and one of the first fundraising efforts was a “Rummage Roundup” from July 19 to 26, 1954. According to the 1957 article, “the success of the Rummage Roundup led to the ambitious undertaking of the Thrift and Gift Shop in the city hall. The formal opening was August 7 and 100 sales were recorded.”
The Thrift and Gift Shop ran weekly on Saturdays in the city hall, but by September of that year, the women realized they needed their own location. To this end, they rented a vacant Dunkard Brethren church building on the corner of Washington and Hancock streets.
By Oct. 7, 1954, the auxiliary had raised about $1,370 and was just gaining steam. Its efforts paid off in 1957 when the Newberg Community Hospital opened on Villa Road, according to a 2016 Newberg Graphic article.
However, the Newberg Hospital Auxiliary remained, continuing to raise money for the hospital’s ongoing needs, including complete kitchen equipment, blinds and draperies for the entire hospital, dining room furniture, air conditioning, an ambulance, bassinets, and more. By 1966, the auxiliary had raised around $60,000, a majority of which came from the Auxiliary Thrift Shop.
“Practically all of the money used to make these purchases, which has benefitted everyone in the community, came from the sale of donated merchandise at the Thrift Shop,” a 1967 article clipping read. “Donations of cast-off materials are all that the shop has to go on, so no donation is too small.”
The Newberg Hospital Auxiliary was officially registered as a nonprofit in Oregon in 1969, the year before it bought the shop’s current building. The shop was open from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
The thrift shop was operating every day of the week except Sundays by 1977, and had the help of more than 100 volunteers to keep it running. By 1980, the shop had donated more than $200,000 in money and equipment to the Newberg Community Hospital, according to a Newberg Graphic article. The auxiliary bought a $26,000 ambulance for the hospital in 1984.
Providence took over the hospital in 1994, according to the 2016 Newberg Graphic article. A few months later, the Newberg Hospital Auxiliary legally changed its name to Newberg Charitable Organization Inc., but continued a partnership with the hospital, which transitioned to its current building in 2006.
Around 2016, the shop broke ties with Providence and became an independent nonprofit organization, according to 2019 Newberg Graphic reporting.
“Now our main goal or our main purpose is to serve the community,” Young said.
The present-day Newberg Thrift Shop relies entirely on donated merchandise. According to Young, it receives about seven bins of donated clothing a day, along with multiple carts of household items and miscellaneous supplies. Last year, the thrift shop donated $34,050 to local organizations, according to a poster next to the register.
Giving Back Where They Can
“We amazingly have quite a broad clientele,” Young said. “There are people who are buying things to resell, people who are buying things for themselves, people who are buying for collections, that kind of thing, and then we have people with vouchers.”
Batchler prices items competitively with other thrift stores, including Goodwill, but she also holds frequent sales on different items.
“Originally, when I took over this position, I went to Goodwill and went over to McMinnville to their secondhand stores, just to look at prices,” Batchler said. “So I had an idea of what Goodwill charges, and then I decided our prices would be a little lower than Goodwill’s, so they could feel like they’re getting a better deal, even though we’re not as big.”
A large sign in the store announces that from 2002 to 2020, the Newberg Charitable Organization donated a total of more than $1.5 million to organizations such as the Newberg Fire Department, Newberg F.I.S.H., the Newberg-Dundee Police Foundation, and the Helping Hands Re-Entry Project.
According to Batchler, donations are awarded through an application process. Second Street Drop-In Center, Fernwood Grange, and Newberg F.I.S.H. all receive monthly pledges, and other donations are voted on by the thrift shop volunteers.
“We read their application and their couple of paragraphs of what they need and how much they need and what they’re going to do it for. We present it at our all-volunteer meeting, and then we vote,” Batchler said. “We let all the volunteers and the board decide what money we’re giving, and how much.”
But the work of the Newberg Thrift Shop is not only about the big donations but also about the daily ways it helps individuals in need.
The shop provides $20 vouchers to the Second Street Community Drop-In Center for community members to take. According to Batchler, the shop redeems three to four vouchers a day.
“This man came in one time who could barely walk, and he’s drenched because it had been raining,” Batchler said. “He needed clothes. He had nothing, so I got him pants, shirt, socks, everything dry, so that he was able to take it. And probably every three months, he’ll come in here to ask for some clothes and we give it to him.”
Those little moments are the key to the thrift shop, according to Young and Batchler.
“I think we all need to work a little more on our humanity and care about each other,” Batchler said.
“It just gives you a sense of worth — a sense of help,” Young added. “To do something other than to feel bad about yourself.”
In honor of its 75th anniversary, the Newberg Thrift Shop is hosting an event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, with everything in the store 75% off, along with gift card giveaways from local businesses, cookies, treats, and more.
People interested in volunteering can find an application on the shop’s website, newbergthrift.org.
