Written By Cori Simpson
When Sykesville residents Charlene and Alan Gillis found out that McDowell County, West Virginia, had lost its fire engine, they found another one for the community.
When they discovered that a local home had been destroyed by fire, they sent the displaced occupants furniture and clothing.
And when their Sykesville neighbors, Maria and John Kachik, needed help moving furniture from a family member’s home, the Gillises lent them a truck.
Almost inevitably, the Gillis’ generosity evolved into a more focused form: the Appalachian Outreach Mission Store on Sandosky Road.
Charlene, 61, and her husband Alan, 62, opened the salvage mission seven years ago after Charlene visited Appalachia and beheld a lifestyle that she describes as “unbelievable.”
What she saw is that there is a hidden, poverty-filled world in the hollows of the Appalachian Mountains. The region, which includes West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, is suffering from the devastating aftermath of mining, flooding and unemployment. Basic amenities like electricity, plumbing and adequate access to store-bought goods are limited.
Images of the first home Charlene entered remain with her to this day: dirt floors, missing windows and chickens living in the kitchens. The poverty she saw there beggared any image of third world hardships.
Her response: She began gathering items for the people in Appalachia.
“I just started collecting stuff,” said Charlene. “I didn’t know what to do with it.”
Knowing that Charlene had worked at a local mission store before it went out of business, a friend suggested that she start her own organization. Word quickly spread throughout the community. Donations flowed from as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Within two years, so much had poured in that Charlene knew it was time to find a permanent space.
She decided to convert a 1950s stone house that she owns and once rented to a different business into the Appalachian Outreach Mission Store. When the doors opened, donations only filled two rooms on the first floor.
Now, every inch of the six-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom home is packed. Two of the bathrooms have been gutted and transformed into an art gallery and dressing room. And the mission has shipped clothing, food and countless kind words of support to Appalachia.
“God gets the glory for the store,” she said. “The Lord sent me everybody I need: volunteers who enjoy folding and organizing clothes, people who like to work the cash register or work outside, and others who would rather organize the items on the floorÉEveryone who comes here has a purpose.”
One of the most gratifying experiences Charlene recalls was the first Christmas that the store took 800 brand new toys to the children in Appalachia. “The Bible says it’s greater to give than receive, and I believe that,” she said.” The looks on the children’s facesÉit’s very rewarding.”
Charlene’s good deeds have had a domino effect on others in the Sykesville community. One volunteer from the mission has even established a ministry for the homeless in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Whatever the need, we just try to help,” said Charlene. “The Lord told me my mission store wasn’t going to be your typical mission storeÉI’m very proud of it.”
