ANGELS ARE WALKING AMONG US IN FLOYD COUNTY
Who? These Angels are the about 80 volunteers who regularly show up to help at one or more of the Angel’s Ministry four stores plus the Donation Center: namely, the Angels in the Attic Store, Angels Boutique, Angels Christmas Store, Angels Furniture Store, and the Angels Donation Center.
They are your neighbors, friends, relatives who volunteer. Many take a personal risk showing up during the pandemic. Others have compromised conditions, or have one in their household, and, understandably, temporarily cannot serve.
Some of the volunteers serve as cashiers and bag packers in the front of the stores, so you see their faces. However, there are many, many more behind the scenes who stock the merchandise, or who rearrange mussed up racks near the end of the day; there is the team at the Angels Donation Center who go to the mini-barn and lug everything back into the building – then sort the items into categories – and next load the van to resupply the main store. That is hard work!
There’s more: when the van arrives, stuffed, at the Angels in the Attic Store, it has to be unloaded into the back room. Another team must unbox and arrange all the merchandise into categories for the restockers for where they are to displayed in different areas in the store, such as clothing, toys, shoes, dishes, videos, picture frames, tools, light fixtures, etc.
Oh, there are those volunteers at the Angels Furniture Store. Mostly heavy and bulky, the items that are delivered must be moved under cover and over to the category based on store layout. Most items need to be dusted, or polished.
There are also behind the scenes angels. There are those who have made bequests. There are those who have anonymously made sizeable donations of land, buildings, or money. There are those two angels, a woodworker and a local artist, who replaced the worn out wooden angel in front of the Angels Boutique with a new one, named Abby – then refurbished, repainted, and relettered the old one and delivered it to the Angels Christmas Store. There are contractors who either charge for materials only and donate their time to do various fixits on the buildings.
Have you wondered where the money comes from to erect the Angels Furniture Store? Well, it does not have a mortgage, and none of Angels facilities has one. Think, for the most part, donors. This increases the funds that can be released to local charities.
Then, there is the Board of Directors comprised of a variety of leaders in the community in finance, agriculture, churches, and legal who offer their time and advice.
Now you understand the angels at Angels Ministry are hard working volunteers who are members of your community.
Have a great Christmas and New Years, everybody.
LAST DAY TO SHOP AT THE ANGELS IN THE ATTIC STORE OR THE ANGELS CHRISTMAS STORE IS TOMORROW SATURDAY DECEMBER 19 2020. ALL ANGELS STORES NOT REOPENING UNTIL SATURDAY JAN 2, 2021.
Go Friday to the Angels in the Attic Store until 4 PM, and Saturday 9 AM until 2 PM.
Go to the Angels Christmas Store Friday to 5 PM or Saturday 9 AM-2 PM
This is the normal shutdown for Angels until after New Year’s Day
The mini-barn at the Angels Donation Center will continue to accept donations during the shutdown period, however it may get full so it is better to wait (after Saturday) until Jan 2, 2021 if possible. Any furniture left outside the Angels Furniture Store (after Saturday) may get wet from the weather, so if possible also delay drop-offs until the New Year.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all of Floyd County.
ANGELS CHRISTMAS STORE FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE FLOYD PRESS THURSDAY DECEMBER 17, 2020
For sure, go buy your own copy of The Floyd Press in the next day or so. On the front page is a huge photo of Angel’s Sandy Shank, a second large photo of some of the Christmas decor available to purchase, together with a huge writeup which continues on page A2, along with yet another photo of some of the volunteers at the Angels Christmas Store. There is a 50% off sale going on until Christmas Day except for trees and wreaths which are in short supply.
The great writeup was done by Abby Whitt, the current managing editor of The Floyd Press. Abby went to the Christmas Store to interview the volunteers and take photos so it is her first-hand knowledge by doing the reporting. Her work contributes to the efforts of the Angels Ministry to fund local charitable organizations with the proceeds once expenses like utilities and maintenance is covered. For example, there is a high demand by local citizens for food security for their families, at Plenty and elsewhere during this pandemic.
PLEA FOR VOLUNTEERS, NEEDED IMMEDIATELY, AT ANGELS IN THE ATTIC STORE IN ORDER TO STAY OPEN
In order to comply with health guidelines, additional volunteers are urgently needed at the Angels in the Attic main store. As a customer, you only see the typical three at the cash register, but there are always other volunteers on the floor restocking clothing, toys, and other merchandise and in addition there are still more volunteers in the back room staging clothing, toys, and other items into categories for the restockers. Yet another volunteer is checking the number of customers in the store to assure there is sufficient safety.
Volunteers can stop by the store during open hours to talk to Gennell, or email Gennell at Angels at angelsfloydinfo@gmail.com
Open hours currently are Fridays 9 AM-4 PM and Saturdays 9 AM-2 PM.
Angels in the Attic Store is the main component of Angels Ministry, a nonprofit organization composed almost entirely of volunteers, and the sales of merchandise funds a number of local charities who help people in need with meals, clothing, and heat.
If the Angels in the Attic Store can’t remain open, the funding will suffer, and Floyd County residents will be the ones suffering over the Holidays and beyond during this pandemic.
ANGELS CHRISTMAS STORE IS RE-OPENING THIS WEEK ON FRIDAY DECEMBER 11 AND SATURDAY DECEMBER 12
The volunteers at the Angels Christmas Store have figured out a way to safely re-open the store this Friday from 9-5 and also Saturday 9-2. There will be only 5 customers admitted to the store at a time to keep everyone safe, customers and volunteers alike. Wearing of masks, of course, is necessary.
Since there are only a couple weeks left until Christmas, there is a 50% OFF SALE ON ALL ITEMS EXCEPT TREES AND WREATHS. The location of the store is across the street from CVS and adjacent to the Floyd Press building (if you are using a cellphone for directions, the address of the Floyd Press building is 710 E Main St, then park at the street and walk to the building next door with the Angels signage).
ANGELS CHRISTMAS STORE TEMPORARILY CLOSES
We are sorry we had to close our Christmas Store abruptly on Friday and Saturday December 4 and 5.
The volunteers and manager of the Angels Christmas Store reviewed the well being of themselves and their families in view of the increasing coronavirus threat. Too many of them have either compromised immune systems, or have someone in their household who does.
They decided there was too great a risk at that point in time. There will be another review and decision by this coming Thursday evening and there will be a post as to the status of the subsequent days prior to Christmas.
This decision does not affect the Angels in the Attic Store, the Angels Boutique, nor the Angels Furniture Store. Each Angels location sets their own schedules because each has different circumstances.
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS ARE AWAITING SANTA CLAUSE AT THE ANGELS BOUTIQUE IN FLOYD VIRGINIA
1. Bundy Flute $45
2. Model train set $45
3. Dolls $16 each
4. Jaymar child’s piano
The Angels Boutique is open Fridays 10 am – 4 pm and Saturdays from 10 am – 2 pm. It is located at 210 South Locust St in downtown Floyd VA next to the Floyd Country Store. The Angels Boutique shares the same building with the Angels in the Attic Store but with a separate entrance.
ANGELS FINANCIALS 2020 TO DATE
Remarks by the Angels Media Volunteer about Floyd County Angels Ministries Financial Statement Jan-Aug 2020. Angels is a non-profit 501c3 charitable organization.
As you can see in the accompanying Income Statement, Angels in the Attic has had a tough year to date in 2020, when compared year to date in 2019. Like a lot of organizations, Covid-19 virus has had a huge negative impact. Sales from stores is way down by nearly 48%. All the Angels Stores were closed for a few months, during which sales income of course was at or near zero. Angels used some reserves (with prudence) to keep Supported Programs and Projects somewhat less impacted, so it is down by about 20%. Click the documents below to expand them for better viewing.
Some volunteers could no longer devote as many hours, or in some cases come in at all due to pre-existing conditions, so Tuesdays were dropped from the days open schedule, which of course lowered sales, as well as lowered ongoing funding to Supported Programs.
Unfortunately, some expenses go on without much reduction, including major ones like utilities and insurance.
All we can do, is to get through all of this challenge, as best we can, under the direction of the volunteer Board of Directors, and with the tireless support of the many volunteers.
