The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Canastota shop ready to reopen and continue serving those in need
After some much-needed renovations, the Opportunity Shop in Canastota will be opening its doors again and helping the public any way they can.
President of the Opportunity Shop Barb Ortman said the doors were closed June 6 and will open again June 24. Ortman said the Opportunity Shop got new shelving, painted the store all the way through and put in new carpet.
“We had hit and miss shelves that were old and falling apart. A lot of it had been donated,” Ortman said. “We recently came into some money, and the people that donated it wanted us to use it for renovations. We’re going to do more to the food pantry, like new tiling, but we’re going to wait until we close in December for the holidays. We can only do so much in the time we had.”
It took three days to get everything out of the Opportunity Shop so the new carpet could be put in and anything on the walls had to come down, Ortman said.
And there’s a lot the Opportunity Shop has to offer.
“We take in donations and put out clean clothes, holiday items, kitchen items, sheets, blankets and more,” Ortman said. “And we put them out at a low, low cost so people without a lot of money can afford them.”
Three very important programs the Opportunity Shop oversees, Ortman said, include the back-toschool program that gives students in need a backpack, school supplies and clothes; the Thanksgiving basket which gives a whole Thanksgiving din
ner to those in need and the Christmas Angels program, where people and businesses in the community sponsor a family in need.
The Opportunity Shop has only one fundraiser a year in November. St. Agatha’s Church in Canastota hosts it, with over 60 raffle baskets and a chicken and biscuits dinner.
“The rest of the support comes fromthe community and people who shop here,” Ortman said. “We take care of anyone. I’ve been told that this is an important part of Canastota by many people because this isn’t just helping people on welfare. It’s single moms, grandparents with grandchildren and homeless people. We don’t turn anyone away.”
Especially for food, Ortman said. The Opportunity Shop runs a food pantry with the Food Bank of Central New York.
And it’s not just the Canastota area they help. Ortman said she has a family, a mom and three daughters, who come all the way from Norwich to shop at Opportunity regularly. Another couple from out of state stops by regularly when they visit family, Ortman said.
Volunteers make the backbone of the Opportunity Shop, Ortman said, and they’re always looking for more volunteers.
“We don’t have a lot of people who can do this,” Ortman said. “Most of our volunteers are elderly. We’re always trying to find new volunteers and we just got four new ones, but it’s a long day. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and most people come for three hours. But it’s a lot of work.”
But it’s work well worth it.
“It was the Christmas Angel program, I think one of the first ones I did around nine years ago,” Ortman said. “A couple had signed up for the programand had just taken their stuff out to the car. They were told of the program by their landlord and signed up late, but a company took the whole family and did a tremendous job getting them everything for the children. They even got gifts for the parents and a ham.”
Ortman said she thought they had left when they came back into the store and they hugged her.
“They came back in to tell me I was their ‘Christmas Angel’ and that they believe I was sent to them and would never forget me and would start taking their children to church,” Ortman said. “I cried.”
On another occasion, Ortman said a mom and her 10-year-old son came in looking for help for school.
“The father was disabled and the mother lost her job,” Ortman said. “She worked there for 20 years and she was crying because she couldn’t afford school clothes and he grew out of everything.”
There were left over clothes from the Christmas drive and Ortman said she grabbed everything he needed.
“He tried everything on then came out and hugged me,” Ortman said. “He said ‘Thank you so much, I love my new clothes. I’ll never forget you.’”
The following year, Ortman said, the mother and son came back in. “The little boy said for his birthday, all he wanted was crayons, coloring books and things to bring to her ‘ angel’ to help other children,” Ortman said. “And he does this now every year.”
Ortman said she doesn’t see herself retiring soon but might slowdown a bit at the behest of her family.
“I don’t know if I could give up everything here,” Ortman said. “It’s what I like to do, I like helping people. It’s in my nature. I think it’s something God put me on this Earth to do.”
To donate to the Opportunity Shop or learn more about volunteering, visit 128 E. Center Street in Canastota or call 315-761-6617.