Submitted photo The Ambassador Baptist Church, located on Kennedy Street in Highland Park, has opened a Thrift Store that offers a variety of different items for sale.

ELKINS — The Ambassador Baptist Church recently expanded its outreach by opening the Ambassador Thrift Store at the church’s location on Kennedy Street in Highland Park.

The store is housed in the church’s warehouse and is currently open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We had two years’ worth of stuff stored in our warehouse and once we got all of that organized, we were able to put everything together for the Thrift Store,” Ambassador Baptist Church pastor Mike House told The Inter-Mountain.

“We want the community to know that we are open and if they are looking for exceptionally inexpensive items, they need to visit our store.”

House said the Thrift Store currently has a large variety of different items for patrons to browse.

“We have a little bit of everything, we really get some crazy stuff in,” House said.

“We do have a lot of clothes, but there are so many other things to choose from like tools, household items and many other unique things. It’s definitely like a treasure hunt when you come in.”

House said some of the clothes taken in by the ministry go to people who need it most, the homeless.

“We are still helping homeless folks and they know they can come in whenever and get clothes, tents, or whatever they may need,” House said.

“When they come in we typically let them get four outfits and some shoes for free. We try to take care of those folks as much as we can.”

House said clothing items that are not given away are sold and shipped to other countries who need help.

“We are still shipping overseas and sending out anywhere between 25,000 and 50,000 per month,” House said.

“We get stuff from Heart and Hand (House), Tyrand (Cooperative Minstries) and other ministries that collect items but get more than they can use. So they pass it off to us and we have an unique opportunity to ship items overseas where it still gets used by ministries overseas.”

House added that all the money collected from sales at the Thrift Store supports the ministry.

“We have payroll and that’s the biggest expense as always, so the money we bring in goes back to the ministry,” House said. “We offer pickup for donated items and delivery for those who can’t get out and need something. So we need to pay for gas in order to do that.”

In addition to the opening of the Thrift Store, House said the Ambassador Baptist Church, which is affiliated with Ambassador Ministries, is planning on constructing a new facility for church services.

“We are also going to be building a new building where we meet for church,” House said. “We are going to be taking the old house down where we used to meet for services. Most recently we have been meeting at the Days Inn for church.”

For more information about the Ambassador Baptist Church or to make a donation, call 304-704-7498.