PSNI opening home, garden thrift store

SANDPOINT —  It has always been a challenge to place Panhandle Special Needs, Inc.’s disabled adult clients in local jobs.

“But with a ragged economy, that problem has become much more pronounced,” said PSNI director Jean Post. “It was rough before all this happened.”

PSNI clients are going after jobs against people who have never before sought the same types of jobs.

“You have Coldwater Creek execs and our people competing for the same jobs,” Post said.

Knowing the organization would have to find a creative way to provide jobs and training for its clients, plus produce additional income for the business, its supporters began brainstorming about a solution.

It came about 3 a.m. from one of the organization’s most ardent supporters.

“I sat up straight in bed,” said Lois Miller, 82.

Miller, who spearheaded a makeover of PSNI’s formerly dilapidated cinder-block building several years ago, had been mulling over ideas about opening a thrift store, but knew it would have to be something far different from those that populate Sandpoint and Ponderay.

The idea needed to be unique, she said.

What came to mind that morning was The Cottage Home and Garden Shop — a business Miller describes as a place to find re-discovered treasures.

Not only did Miller’s Women’s Circle buy into the project, but so have PSNI’s staff and board of directors.

The next challenge was to find an in-town location that would be easily accessible to people who like to seek out household and garden treasures.

Miller did not have to look to far — just across the parking lot in fact — to Goodwill’s former headquarters.

The lovely former farmhouse with freshly painted gray-green clapboard and a wide front porch has sat empty for the past 18 months after Goodwill had its Ponderay facility built large enough to include its management offices.

Not only is the seven-room building perfect for displaying homey things in a non-shop style setting, but its proximity to PSNI will create ease of access for clients who will clean and prepare items for sale and also provide janitorial services for the building, said Diane Dennis, a PSNI employee in charge of client training.

The location ties in nicely with PSNI’s greenhouse and its main facility, Post said.

Clients also will make items to sell in the store, including garden hats and kneeling mats made from recycled plastic bags. They also will make other items to sell in the shop, Dennis said.

She is interested in ideas about items that PSNI’s clients could make for sale or people would be willing to provide some training.

“We are looking for things for our clients to produce,” she said.

The shop will be staffed by about 40 volunteers working two to three hour shifts a month, Miller said. So far, 25 people have committed their time to helping.  

Pam Mimmack of Northwest Handmade also has donated a log bed to PSNI to raffle off. The bed will be displayed in the new shop, Miller said.

Not only is Post excited about the job potential for PSNI’s clients, but they also are becoming excited, she said.

The clients like nothing better than to be busy and productive, Post said.

She is excited about the potential this new endeavor presents for PSNI.,

“Is this exciting or what,” Post said.