After returning home from Peru after 17 years, missionaries Faith and Vance Field wanted to continue helping those in need in Peru, as well as in their local communities.
With perseverance and support from their family, in 1992, the couple established the first Helping Hands Ministries thrift store in Bothell. Now, Helping Hands has four thrift stores in Bothell, Monroe, Lake Stevens and Clearview.
With the income provided by the thrift stores, Helping Hands is able to give back to communities here and back to the ministry in Peru. The work Helping Hands does in Peru is in partnership with Amor en Accion, another faith-centered ministry based there that provides a range of social and family services: from education for children, sewing classes for adults and disaster relief.
One way that Helping Hands provides for the community here in Washington is through $25 gift cards that people are able to use at any of their thrift store locations. Helping Hands partners with a variety of nonprofits, most notably Sound Pathways, Women’s Union Gospel Mission, Shower to the People and Damascus House for Men and Women. Partnering with these nonprofits gives Helping Hands the opportunity to reach more people. The gift cards help people purchase basic essentials like clothes and appliances for individuals and families.
The nonprofit’s Director of Development, Jill Chi, started working with Helping Hands 10 years ago as a manager for the Lake Stevens location.
“We want to make sure when people come in to use our gift cards that they do not feel like they are being judged or less than, or that it is a hand out because it truly is a gift,” Chi said.
Helping Hands is dedicated to having no donation go to waste, that is where the partnership with other nonprofits comes in. Sometimes, the thrift stores get more donations than they have room for. For example, Shower to the People comes in to lighten the load by taking bags of donated clothes to give to the homeless who use their showers.
According to Chi, one of Helping Hands’ mottos is “anything that we make we just want to give back out to the community.”
Staci Camlin was originally a client of the agency and was able to experience firsthand the benefits of Helping Hands’ gift cards. The ministry has been a blessing to Camlin. She is now the bookkeeper at Sound Pathways, and now that she works for Sound Pathways she is able to help other clients get the things they need for their forever homes.
“Whether it’s new or it’s used, it’s new to us,” Camlin said. “That makes it home.”
Through Helping Hands and their partners, people are able to walk into these thrift stores greeted by compassion and generosity rather than pity or shame. Employees and volunteers who work for the ministry help individuals and their family pick out clothes for work, toys for kids, and decor for their new residences.
