Bracken County’s local Senior Citizen Center has a thrift store next to the center named, Country Closet.   The proceeds from the store fund the seniors extra activities providing social outings for the seniors. The store also offers clothing and household items for low cost of 25 cents each.   This is a great resource for people who have low income or on a fixed budget.  When the COVID pandemic hit in 2019 the store was closed temporary because all of the staff at the Senior Center had to help deliver meals to local seniors as the demand went up due to the center being closed.  The store functions on 100% donations from the community.   The donations began to pile up in the store over the next year and a half.  At times some of the stuff was donated to local charities, but the amount of stuff was overwhelming.  In the summer of 2021 the Bracken County Family and Consumer Science Agent stopped and donated some items and noticed how crowded the store was and talked with the store manager Debbie.  Over the next few months the FCS Agent began planning to help the store sort through the donations and work to get the store opened back up to a functioning shop.  A plan was set in place by the FCS Agent to clean out the store and take all of the donations to the hoop barn at the Bracken County Extension Office.  With the help of local volunteers, Bracken County Homemakers, the senior staff, and the Bracken County FCS Agent a clean out day was planned.  On the clean out day there was 8 pickup loads and 4 box trailer loads of the donated items taken to the hoop barn.  The hoop barn provided a great place to unload, store, and sort the donated items.  From here days and times were planned for the sorting and organizing of the items.  The Bracken County Homemakers helped sort the items over a month.  The items that were torn or stained were thrown away as well as items that were in bad shape.  Over the course of the month 100 plus 33 gallon bags of trash was thrown out. Items were organized into boxes donated by International Paper that made organizing easier.  Half way through organizing, a yard sale was planned in order to move the merchandise and make room for the second half of stuff.  Then after organizing the second half of stuff a second yard sale was planned.   When the sales were done over $3,000 was raised for improvements on the store.  The items that were left were donated to a local thrift store.  The senior staff wanted to start with new donations as the donations started coming in the last week of the yard sale.   During the yard sales, it was estimated 400 plus families shopped and found great deals.  Many people did not know about the Country Closet, but with social media to help advertise the yard sale, the word got out quickly.   It was a very successful event.  After the sale, work began on the inside of the store, with fresh paint, new ceiling tiles, new lights, and re-organizing of the items.   The store opened back up in mid-December in time for Christmas, more renovations are planned but it was important to the staff to get the store opened back up because many families rely on the store and people had been asking about when it was going to open. Many families shop there and have commented on the new look of the store.   One family member commented they have a lot of children and they use the shop to help cloth them.  Another member said that they use the store to purchase Christmas gifts.  The store has been opened a month and is doing regular business and serving many families.  This project was so successful.  It helped the seniors to sell more items to fund their extracurricular activities.   It helped families by providing a economical place to shop.  It helped provide a new volunteer activity for one homemaker who was looking for something to do.  It helps families clean out clutter and have a more organized home by having a local place for people to donate.