BIGGER AND BETTER

Thrift shop, woodworking, education center expanded

FRANCONIA >> There’s been a thrift shop at Peter Becker Community for a number of years, but now it’s bigger — in a new location and has added furniture and household products.

“Before it was more clothes than anything,” said Peter Becker CEO and President Suzanne Owens. “We’re trying to expand what we do.”

It’s also been renamed. Now it’s the Crescent Corner Thrift & Furniture Store, which with the new Taylor Woodworking Shop and relocated Peter Becker Community Education Center make up the new Community Center on Crescent Lane.

Ribbon cuttings and openings took place May 5 at the building, which was converted from its former use as an Indian Creek Foundation group home with an addition made for the woodworking shop.

The thrift shop, which has contributed about a million dollars to Peter Becker Community over the years, is one of Peter Becker Community Auxiliary’s major fundraisers, Owens said.

Peter Becker residents run the shop, she said.

“It’s open to anybody in the community, and actually most of the things that get donated are from the community at large, not just from Peter Becker,” Owens said.

The Education Center is used for staff training and by nursing schools, she said.

“They do the classroom work here and then the clinical part in our skilled nursing facility, actually doing hands-on,” Owens said of the nursing schools.

With the move, more programs will be offered at the Education Center, including ones open to the PBC residents, she said.

“A lot of it is called brain fitness, to keep people sharp,” she said, “which we all need.”

The woodworking shop was previously in a small, unheated garage area, she said.

“The woodworkers themselves laid this all out, decided where they needed plugs, what equipment they were getting,” Owens said of the new shop. “They’ve been planning this for two or three years.”

The woodworkers also frequently do work for Peter Becker Community, she said.

“They’re about to start building some cabinet doors for some bathrooms we’re remodeling,” she said. Some of the work by the club is also available to be purchased, she said.

“They’re beautiful things. I buy things all the time from them,” Owens said.

BOB KEELER — MEDIANEWS GROUP Bob Coble, treasurer of the Peter Becker Community Woodworkers Association, demonstrates woodworking in the new Taylor Woodworking Shop.

BOB KEELER — MEDIANEWS GROUP Ruth and Mike Taylor, center, cut the ribbon while standing outside the new Taylor Woodshop in the Peter Becker Community Center.

BOB KEELER - MEDIANEWS GROUP Peter Becker Community CEO and President Suzanne Owens and Peter Becker Community Auxiliary President Dick Schmoyer stand in front of the new Peter Becker Community Center.