VOORHEESVILLE — Karie Jean Hammond’s memory lives on in a community clothing thrift shop, housed in the church she had attended since infancy — the First United Methodist Church of Voorheesville.

“She was taken to heaven at the age of 22,” said her mother, Pat Klose-Hammond.

“Karie Jean’s Closet so lovingly created in memory of our daughter will have a positive effect on the whole community,” Klose-Hammond wrote in an email to The Enterprise. “Karie Jean was taken to Heaven much too early but she will never be forgotten.”

She went on, “Karie Jean loved this church and the members in it.  She also, loved playing soccer, cooking, enjoying her nieces and nephews as well as her babysitting years. She attended Paul Smith's College with a major in Culinary Arts, her favorite thing to do. She also worked at our Voorheesville Library through her high-school and college years.”

After her death in 1994, a small room on the lower-level of the church was refurbished by Hammond’s family and dedicated in her name as a youth lounge. In the spring of 2015, the church’s Mission Team began to search for ways to raise money for its growing list of community outreach projects.

Whether supporting the work of the New Scotland Food Pantry in feeding Voorheesville’s poor and elderly, providing essential supplies to the homeless youth served by the Emmanuel Faith Community, coordinating a summer Farmers’ Market or bolstering the efforts of a number of local and even worldwide charities such as ShelterboxUSA, the Mission Team members had their hands full.

Linda Martin is the church’s Mission Team coordinator.

“We’re not in the church budget so any projects we choose to take on we have to fundraise for and generate our own income,” she told The Enterprise. “A thrift store was suggested. We thought it was a great idea because it reaches outside of the church into the larger neighborhood. So we decided to run with it.”

Martin spent the summer traveling to thrift shops over a 50-mile radius to find out how they did business.

“I had questions about how they organized themselves, what kind of hours they worked and what kind of money they made,” she said. “At first we thought we were just going to handle children’s clothing but, after talking with many of these thrift stores, we knew that it would not support us. We had to change our whole plan to include men’s, women’s and children’s clothing.”

In fact, Martin was advised never to turn down a donation, clothing or not, so the Mission’s Team forged a relationship with another church two-miles away.

“They handle everything but clothing in their thrift store, so whatever is donated to us that we don’t want to sell is packaged up and sent to them and they are thrilled to get it,” Martin said.

With a plan in place, in January 2016 the Mission Team put out a call for donations.

Even before the organizers began distributing posters throughout Voorheesville, the call was enthusiastically answered.

They just needed a space and a store name with which to sell all of the items that were flooding in.

The church gave them Hammond’s room.

“Unfortunately, as time went on, the kids that were using the room went to college and it was just sitting idle,” Martin said. “Once we had the space, someone in the group said that it only made sense to name it ‘Karie Jean’s Closet’.”

Martin contacted Hammond’s mother, Pat Klose-Hammond, to ask her what she thought.

“She just cried,” Martin said. “She thought it was a great idea to keep Karie Jean’s name out there.”

On April 10, the room was crammed from wall-to-wall with clothing of all kinds — even high-end brand names. Karie Jean’s Closet was open for business.

Yet, in an unexpected and additional honor to Hammond, the store was to become one-of-a-kind.

“When we first opened the Closet, we thought that we would make enough money to support the things we fund,” Martin said. “But, as we started talking to all these organizations, they were telling us about some of the people they help — like a family whose house burned down and they lost everything.”

Such a family and other people referred by an agency can now make an appointment to visit Karie Jean’s Closet outside of its regular business hours and shop for free — a rebuilt life in the name of a very loving young woman.

“In the first two weeks we were open, we had two people referred to us through the Senior Outreach Program,” Martin said. “Just this past week, we hooked up with a domestic violence shelter. There are 20 women and their children who can shop for free. We are really excited about that.”

For everyone else, Karie Jean’s Closet is open on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 6:30 pm and Sundays from 12:00-3:00 pm at the church’s 68 Maple Avenue address in Voorheesville.

They are also taking donations of gently-used clothes, jewelry, shoes and more with a particular need for spring and summer items.

“We are a big operation in a small room,” Martin said.

 However, it is a room of which Hammond’s family wholeheartedly approves.

“The thrift store will not only be a positive mission for our Church but also a way of keeping her name and spirit alive,” they wrote in the May edition of Churchmouse. “She so loved this Church and helping wherever she could.”