HURON — Everybody needs a helping hand now and then, and for the past 16 years the Helping Hands Pantry and Thrift Store has been doing just that — lending a helping hand.
Throughout the month of July, Modern Woodmen will be matching all sales and donations of items made at Helping Hands.
The thrift store is located across the highway from Taco Johns, at 403 Dakota Ave. N. They are open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.
“That is really big news for us,” said Sue Gose, president of the Helping Hands board of directors. “We have been struggling because we have been feeding so many people.”
Other board members are Judy Blesch, vice president; Kaye Haug, secretary; Rita Hilgedick, treasurer; and Barb Blaedorn and Velda Zeeck.
Gose has been with Helping Hands since it began, and said they have been feeding between 500 and 700 each month.

“A lot of our people are working two and three jobs; and they’re OK until a car breaks down or someone gets sick,” Gose said. “Then they can’t do it.
“There’s a lot of new people coming all the time,” she said. “They come, then might get a job and you don’t see them again. We see some elderly and disabled people that come once a month.”
Along with food, they also have racks and racks of donated clothing and shoes for men, women and children, along with dishes, kitchen items, knick-knacks, and furniture.
Every child who enters the store with their parents receives a free toy and a book.
Helping Hands was organized through Prison Ministry Fellowship, volunteers who lead Bible studies and befriend prison inmates.
When inmates are released from prison they often have little more than the clothes on their back. And finding ways of helping them was the focus behind the Helping Hands concept.
“We wanted a place where we could help people get started over again,” Gose said, adding: “But we always help whoever comes in and needs it.”

CRYSTAL PUGSLEY/PLAINSMAN

Sue Gose, president of the Helping Hands board of directors, foreground, and Barb Blaedorn, member, stand in the Helping Hands pantry at 403 Dakota Ave. N.
Modern Woodmen will match every purchase and donation made during the month of July at the pantry and thrift store. Helping Hands helps feed between 500 to 700 people each month. Other photos show other areas of the store.