Beyond Homeless sets ‘Summer Shopping Experience’ this weekend

When Beyond Homeless Inc. recently found itself with more goods than it could possibly sell at its North Jackson Street thrift story, Executive Director Leigh Durbin decided to get creative.

Between the shut-down of the store due to COVID-19 and an unprecedented number of donations, Durbin saw an opportunity and the seeds of the “Beyond Homeless Summer Shopping Experience” began to take root.

On Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. the front lawn of the East Franklin Street shelter will transform into a mini outlet mall setup with a number of “shops,” including:

• Christmas in July

• Book Nook

• Toybox

• Children’s Spot

• Housewares and Electronics Market

• Collectibles Corner

• Designer Boutique

• Vintage and Gently-Used Outlet

The Designer Boutique will feature new, never-opened clothing and shoes from Ann Taylor, Nike, Vera Bradley, Harley-Davidson Denim, Van Heusen, Haggar, Charles Edward, Chico’s, The Limited, Coach and others.

Beyond Homeless Inc. is located at 309 E. Franklin St., a building it shares with the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry and the Putnam County Housing Authority.

The sale will be cash-only and organizers will be offering hourly incentives and additional discounts throughout the two-day shopping experience.

The Beyond Homeless Thrift Store will be closed during the two-day sale.

A rain date of July 18 and 19 has been set.

The idea started to take form several months ago when Durbin discovered that a large donation of the new items had been made by one of the local factories.

Additionally, when the thrift store first reopened, it was overwhelmed with donations.

“So the idea started forming,” Durbin said. “I don’t like the idea of a clearance sale. I want to hit all our audiences. I want the budget-minded yard sale folks, but I want to hit everyone.”

Durbin is referring to this as the “inaugural” shopping experience, as she hopes to do it again.

“I just know if this is successful, I’m going to have to repeat it in the fall,” she said.

Beyond Homeless board members will be on hand to share information about the shelter, and shoppers will have the chance to interact with the staff.

Durbin is hoping for good things from the sale, as the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed some limitations in the shelter’s services.

“We need to find a way to help our men’s program,” Durbin said.

The local shelter houses only women and children, a necessity considering some of the women have fled from domestic violence situations.

There are still services provided for men, such as nights in local hotels and referrals to nearby men’s shelters, but these options have become more difficult to come by of late.

Durbin said they learned recently that Vigo County’s two men’s shelters are not accepting referrals form outside the county.

This leaves them with options in Bloomington, Indianapolis or even as far away as Columbus.

“I saw a little bit of an increase in men in May and I ended up putting them in the College Inn because I couldn’t put them anywhere else,” Durbin said. “And then there’s the issue of when I get a man in, they don’t want to go to Bloomington or Terre Haute because they have a job here. So what can I do?”

Durbin hopes to better serve men through the homeless prevention program.

“We are trying to expand our homeless prevention program,” Durbin said. “There’s a definite need with men.”

Durbin said the need for Beyond Homeless is definitely on the upswing in 2020. In 2019, the shelter served a total of 191 people.

Halfway through 2020, it has already served 137.

Since opening in 2014, the shelter has provided service to 695 women and children through 23,217 “bed nights.”

That equates to 63.5 years of service.

Additionally, the organization has helped 150 men experiencing homelessness find shelter.

For more information on Beyond Homeless, call 301-9263.