Mary’s Closet  

Mary’s Closet  

From One Woman’s Mission to a Community Blessing

In 2011, First Methodist Church was struggling. Attendance was down, and membership had dwindled to only about 15 congregants. While these congregants were faithful in their work to keep the church going, they faced a major issue: district leaders said the church lacked a mission, therefore a purpose, and even insinuated that without these elements, its future would be called into question. 

Long-time congregant Mary O’Farrell could not bear to see the demise of her church, so she answered the call and started Mary’s Closet. What started as a one-woman mission in 2011 has spread to a downtown staple that has blessed thousands of people in need in our community. Not long after opening, other women joined Mary, and the program grew. Remembering the mission’s beginning, O’Farrell recounts, “The closet really took off around 2015, and on Sunday, January 1, 2017, Pastor Mike Akin officially dedicated the closet, and the sign was placed on the outside of the building.” 

Mary’s Closet collects and organizes donated clothing and household items for people in need. The closet operates like a store, allowing impoverished community members to shop without spending any money and without losing their dignity. “We serve anybody, needy and disenfranchised, we don’t turn anybody or anything away,” O’Farrell says.

The closet operates on Tuesdays. Volunteers receive donations, organize them in the downstairs intake room, and store them in the upstairs storage room. If furniture items are donated, or if a large quantity of items is donated, volunteers can come to pick them up in the closet’s van, with the help of workers from the Restoration of Hope project.

Community members can shop between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Due to its proximity to the Randy Sams Outreach Shelter and the Salvation Army Food Distribution Center, Mary’s Closet can easily provide much-needed aid to those in need in the downtown area. Volunteers say that assisting the shoppers with their selections is one of the more rewarding parts of the job.

There are several ways that members can further the mission of Mary’s Closet. Collecting donated items from your own home, or from friends and neighbors, is one way. Volunteering at the closet on Tuesdays is another. Mrs. O’Farrell encourages all members to participate, even if they are not able to commit to weekly volunteering: “We would love to have anyone. A volunteer can do as little or as much as they want to.”