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The East Palestine First United Presbyterian Church on Rebecca Street has a long history of outreach in its community. Before COVID-19 shut their doors the church was regularly conducting community meals and ran Kingdom’s Kloset, a free clothing giveaway generally open during the community meals. In the past the church worked with The Salvation Army to process applications for cash assistance, they housed a Summer Meals feeding site, and administered kids outreach composed of breakfast and classes. Though this congregation is small, composed of approximately 20 congregates, they’ve made a huge effort to support the people in their community.
The First United Presbyterian Church’s rich history of outreach made the new partnership with The Way Station a no-brainer. The congregation hopes that this partnership will produce a few things; revenue, a tried and tested model, connection to developed relationships, and long-term potential.
The hope is that a steady revenue will permit two things; the hire of a Store Manager and the assurance that the local community will have access to used quality clothing at a reasonable price for years to come. Another incentive for FUPC was that the TWS thrift store model was established. There is no starting from scratch. As the volunteer staff at FUPC work to prepare the new store they’re doing it with TWS guidance and encouragement.
When one partners with The Way Station the community doesn’t just get a thrift store the community gains access to the partnerships and programs TWS has cultivated over the years as well. For example, The First United Presbyterian Church will become a distribution site for baby’ diapers through Project MKC. Individuals and families will also have access to free hygiene items, adults and youth diapers, and female menstrual products.
The long-term goal is to be able to offer the same programs that are currently available through the East Liverpool and Columbiana Way Station sites. These programs include Jobs; Ready, Set, Go, Pathways to Independence, Side-by-Side, GLOW, and a community food pantry.
The East Palestine store will open May 6th with regular starting hours of 10:00 am – 3:00 Thursdays and Fridays.
In partnership with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, The Way Station was awarded a Community Outreach Grant. The goal of the grant was to provide resources focused on managing emotional distress, signs, and symptoms of mental illness, and where to call/text to connect to help or services and supports. In partnership with Columbiana County schools 4,132 mental health bags were distributed to local 9th-12th grade students. Additionally, 500 families received Family Holiday Activity bags. Bags received by families and teens though similar in the desired outcome were different in content. For example, bags for the families included things like ideas for indoor games to do with kids and materials. The family bags also included fliers and brochures to organizations that can assist struggling families. One such organization was the Triple P Parenting Program which reported having several families reach out to them as a consequence of engaging with families through these bags. The teen bags also contained some fliers and brochures but we aimed to focus our efforts on activity suggestions and materials such as information of people to follow on TikTok and Instagram who encouraged positive mental health. 
The Columbiana Way Station Food Pantry Director, Carla Ciavarella Sukosd, officially retired this March. At The Way Station, Carla was the face of several compassionate ministries throughout her 19 years. She co-developed and conducted Side-By-Side training, managed the DeVine Thrift Store and the USA direct assistance program (now known at Pathways to Independence), represented The Way Station at public speaking events and info fairs, and coordinated the Annual Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas and School Supply Giveaways. The role Carla is most known for is her invaluable leadership as the Columbiana Food Pantry Director.
new to The Way Station team as she has been the Outreach Coordinator and part-time Store Manager for 2 years now, joining the team in January of 2019. Ellen takes on this additional role with a background in food insecurity work as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Lunch Bunch Program and Healthy Oxford Hills. Ellen had this to say regarding her new role, “I look forward to getting to know our food clients better and being a resource to help them better meet their food-related needs.” Ellen will officially take over for Carla beginning this March. Please join us in welcoming Ellen to this new role and Carla into retirement.