The Newtown VNA Thrift Shop has been operating for more than 85 years. Originally launched by 12 local women for the purpose of raising funds to provide dental equipment and services to local school children, the shop opened in 1938 within the Atchison Building at 33 Main Street.

Chaired by Anna E. Clow, the group and its efforts also financially supported the milk programs in local schools after the Tuberculosis Association of Fairfield County relocated from Danbury to Stamford.

The shop moved in 1969 to its present location — the lower level of Edmond Town Hall, with access from the historic building’s rear parking lot — into space also set aside for use as the VNA Nurse’s Office (hence the old Nurse nameplate on the long familiar red door).

For years the thrift shop was open three times each week. In recent years that has been scaled back to Saturday mornings, but the VNA and its shop continue to thrive. Further, the shop recently overcame its most challenging hurdle.

The store suffered tremendous damage in the rain and flooding of last August. The storm that hit the region left several inches of standing water on the lowest level of 45 Main Street, including the VNA’s clearing house of personal apparel and household articles sold at very low prices.

VNA President Mary Tietjen recently told The Newtown Bee “there was six inches of water everywhere.”

Fortunately the members of the local VNA were able to salvage much of their inventory and held a flash sale the weekend after the storm.

The shop was then closed for repairs, which included an entire new floor. Asbestos was discovered under the tiles of the floor, which was taken care of by FEMA, Tietjen said.

Repairs also included newly painted walls, new shelving that better utilizes the available space, and even new curtains that tie the space together between its rooms.

Ceiling pipes have been rewrapped as well, better moderating the heat, the women noted.

‘A Blessing In Disguise’

Tietjen recently told The Newtown Bee the VNA was able to move back into its space in early November. The shop is again open every Saturday morning between 9 am and noon, and “it’s been doing very, very well,” she said last month.

“People are happy to have us back. It looks very nice, very fresh and new. It was almost a blessing in disguise” that the repairs needed to be done, she added.

Tietjen and Joan Reynolds, the current vice president of Newtown VNA, were recently at the store, looking again at the new changes and talking about the good that comes from the resale of clothing, small household items, and collectibles.

The shop has become the largest annual fundraising effort for the local VNA chapter. Funds raised help build scholarships, and provide the opportunity for the local chapter “to respond to special requests and circumstances,” Reynolds said January 27.

The latest provision of the VNA Thrift Shop is a monthly donation to a local community organization. Proceeds from one weekend each month are donated to nonprofits, often averaging, Reynolds said, “around $300.”

The first beneficiaries of 2025, she said, Girls On The Run received “right around that figure.”

Tietjen credits Cris Fadus with the idea for the monthly donations. A member of Newtown VNA since 2017, Fadus has been chairing the VNA Thrift Shop “about six years,” she said this week.

“The idea came up around this time last year, and took a little bit of time to iron out the details, but we launched it by the end of the summer,” Fadus said February 4. “Our first donation was for suicide prevention, and then we donated to Newtown Forest Association, to help purchase the Deep Brook property.”

The VNA’s work continued with donations to Women Involved in Newtown (WIN) and The Newtown Fund’s Holiday Baskets program before the end of the year, she said.

Fadus takes it upon herself to vet every program for the donations.

“I look at nonprofits in Newtown, or nearby that benefit Newtown — like next month, we’re going to donate to Thrive in Trumbull, because we know a lot of Newtown people benefit from that program and we’ve looked into and approved it,” Fadus said.

“We look for places that need extra money that don’t necessarily have a way to raise funds like we do,” she added. “Places that are small and just need an extra boost.”

As Fadus noted a few months ago, “to a lot of these small organizations even $300 or $350 can make a difference.”

February’s donation will benefit The Brian Silverlieb Animal Control Center.

A Growing List Of Beneficiaries

The VNA has a working list of where the donations will go through the end of the year. Readers who would like to keep up with each month’s plans are invited to watch the Classified ads in The Newtown Bee — “We’re going to begin doing ads in the paper each month to highlight where the donations are going,” Fadus said this week — check the VNA’s Facebook page, or even look for posts inside the VNA Thrift Shop when shopping.

Most of the donations are raised on the third or fourth Saturday of each month, she said.

“We haven’t ruled out doing more than one week of fundraising,” Fadus added. “If a need arises, we can help out because we’re fluid enough and flexible enough that we can do something for another needy cause the following weekend.”

Donations are more than financial, Reynolds noted. Recently, Newtown VNA has been coordinating efforts for a Formal Dress Exchange at St Thomas’s Episcopal Church in Bethel this weekend. VNA members are putting aside formal dresses, fancy tops, dress pants, short dresses, jewelry, shoes, handbags and clutches for the February 8-9 event, when anyone in need of formal attire will be welcome to select something regardless of ability to donate.

A flier about the event on the checkout counter inside the thrift shop in recent weeks has encouraged customers to consider donating items for the exchange as well.

Trinity Episcopal Church’s Little Pantry is another cause the thrift shop has set its eyes on.

“Some of that food pantry’s clients are freezing, so we’ll be doing a drive for coats and other warm clothing,” she said.

“Shopping here reaches across Newtown and other local communities,” Reynolds said. “People are also reaching out more and more, and we contribute as much as we can. We’re getting connected with more organizations who need help, and we support other causes too.”

Beyond those mentioned already, a list posted inside the shop reads like a who’s who of local organizations that have benefitted from financial contributions from the VNA, including Botsford Fire Rescue, Edmond Town Hall, Newtown Parks & Recreation, and Regional Hospice.

Clothing and toys have been donated by the association to Abby’s Place, Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Danbury Women’s Center, House of Harrison, and the Newtown Knights of Columbus, among others.

Additional contributions from the shop have included books to C.H. Booth Library, toys and learning items to Friends of Kenta, Inc, and blankets and towels to Newtown Animal Control and local veterinary offices. In August, Newtown VNA members delivered clothing to a location in Southbury where items were being distributed to families there and in Oxford who had been greatly impacted by the flood.

With 105 years of history and care to its credit, Newtown VNA continues to live up to its mission of contributing to the health and well-being of residents.

Readers are invited to contact Cris Fadus with suggestions for the VNA Thrift Shop monthly donations. She can be reached at 203-300-8175. All suggestions will be vetted, she said.

The VNA Thrift Shop entrance is from the lower rear parking lot of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street. Current hours are 9 am-noon Saturday.

=====

Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.