It's opening day at the Gold Mine North Store on US-31 in Petoskey. By early morning people are filing in looking for bargain deals on everything from clothing to toys, furniture, and home decor. But as the sales begin to ring up, so does the help being provided to those in need throughout the community. Janet Mancinelli with the Women's Resource Center says, "on an annual basis our service delivery reaches about 5,000 individuals a year through our school program and our direct service program."
The store is operated by the Women's Resource Center of Northern Michigan. They are a regional program that provides services for domestic violence and sexual abuse victims. The sales made in this store go directly to provide those services. Since 1981, the group operated another store across town but have since opened this additional store. The group says they need to expand, one because of the amount of items being donated to the store, and also because they were seeing the need for their services also growing.
Janet says, "in the shelter alone last year we housed 177 women and children in addition to that we opened up over 500 cases of domestic abuse. We opened up over 200 cases of sexual assault." She also says they hope the success of their first store will carry on to their second so they can continue to provide services for those needing help throughout the community. But the need has also grown beyond just women, it now includes children and families. Janet Mancinelli says 25 percent of the people they helped last year were men.
For more information on the Women's Resource Center, and other charity organizations, visit their Web sites by going to our Links in the News page.
