BERNE  — When the Hilltowns’ most well-known doctor, Margery Smith, died in 2012, her serving dishes were donated to the Helderberg Evangelical Lutheran Church. When the beautifully decorated dishes weren’t purchased in an annual church yard sale, they were stored in the church’s basement.

“People would go downstairs occasionally,” said church member Melanie Bunzey. “Like, if we had a dinner at the church, we would open it up.”

Cleaning out a corner room in the basement, Bunzey found two antique wooden hutches and thought she could put the dishes inside to entice a buyer. The dishes sold immediately, she said, and donations followed. Bunzey felt compelled to create a thrift store, noting the lack of one nearby and the needs of families with low incomes.

Since March, the church has had the thrift shop in its basement, taking in second-hand donations of almost anything — excluding adult clothes and electronics — and selling them to local residents who get to pay bargain prices and avoid a long car ride to a retail store.

“I have an attorney that comes in here faithfully every Saturday,” Bunzey said, stressing that her customers are diverse.

“A guy came to install a water softener and walked out with twenty-five dollars’ worth of merchandise,” said Pastor Wendy Cook.

Bunzey said Berne residents are happy to have a local place to bring their donations.

One family that lives in the Berne hamlet ,where the church is located, visits twice a week, every time the shop is open.

“For me, it’s giving back to the community,” said Leslyn Gallo. Her 6-year-old daughter, Diana Colavito, has fun at the store, checking on its stock of toys and board games.

When Colavito lost one of her front teeth, she got enough money from the Tooth Fairy to buy a child-sized wooden rocking chair that she had admired at the store, her mother said. When asked about its appeal, Colavito said she liked the chair’s color, a bright, finely grained blond.

A picture of Colavito standing with her rocking chair was taken and given to her in a donated frame.

Bunzey, a paralegal for Albany County, estimated the thrift shop takes in about $500 for the church each month. The money goes into an account for new projects and maintenance at the church.

“We have a historic building,” said Cook. “The Anti-Rent War vote was taken in our sanctuary, but the stained glass windows are bowing now, the foundation needs work; at some point, the upper fascia is going to need to be replaced.”

Bunzey and Dorothy Dibble staff the shop from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Since it began, the thrift shop has expanded to three basement rooms, each with a designated set of items — kitchen supplies and clothing in one room, furniture and children’s games in another, and miscellaneous items for the home in a third.

Starting Nov. 1, Bunzey and Dibble hope to make the shop a Christmas store, offering customers music, lights, and eggnog.