WHITEHALL — To see Ruth Grenell walking through the White Lake United Methodist Church on a Thursday evening or a Saturday afternoon is to see someone exactly where they know they’re supposed to be; in Grenell’s case, helping people.
For two and a half years, Grenell has run the White Lake Free Store, which distributes clothes, toys, hygiene products and more to those who need them the most.
“I’m a very privileged middle-class white female that has always had a love for other people, but never really a strong understanding of their life,” Grenell said. “The two things I’ve learned about (people in) poverty...they have two things that they hold in high esteem. That’s relationships and things. I can help with relationships, but I wasn’t able to give them the things they needed.
“It’s just really filled a need in this (area). Whitehall probably has one of the higher (rate of) low-income rentals (in terms of people who live) in the city. I think there’s an awful lot of people that say, ‘Let them go to Hope’s Closet and spend $10 or $5,’ or something. They might not have it. So they come here.”
Grenell, who was a nurse at Hackley Hospital in Muskegon for 40 years before retiring in 2005, launched the free store in July 2021. Located at the White Lake United Methodist Church in Whitehall, it came about after Grenell learned of a similar service the church’s now-retired pastor, Mike Riegler, was part of in Mount Pleasant.
The store ran solely on community donations (both physical and monetary) for over a year. After having been in operation for a year as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, the free store was able to get traction seeking grants. Her first big grant, worth $10,000, came from the White Lake Area Women Who Care. When Grenell received that grant, she thought it would keep her store going for years, purchasing diapers, bathroom supplies and any number of other things.
Inflation changed that, though, and most of that money - about 70 percent, according to Grenell - has been spent just 18 months later. Grenell got a boost late last year when the White Lake Area Community Fund gave the free store another $5,000 grant.
While the free store is inside the church, Grenell said it maintains independent operations. The church’s current pastor Tim Dibble, is counted as a big supporter of the store.
Between seeking grants and stocking the store - seemingly every conversation Grenell had last Thursday at the free store included mention of where she had picked up one product or another - what began as a hobby has turned into something more like a full-time job. But you won’t hear her complaining. For her, the free store is a calling.
“I’ve had some health issues,” Grenell said. “I’ve had a lot of back surgeries, and I’ve had cancer in the past, and my faith’s just brought me through all of it. I thought, ‘I’ve still got some good years to give to something.’ This is my something, and I love it. I love the people, and I have a feeling they like us a little bit too.”
Grenell doesn’t just stock the free store, either. She’s a self-described Uber driver for a handful of city residents who lack transportation to get to the free store, whose hours - 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays - coincide with those of the twice-weekly free meals the church serves with help from community volunteers. The meals bring in roughly 60-70 people on Thursdays and 40-45 on Saturdays; not everyone who gets a meal goes to the free store, and vice versa.
Grenell has also helped those she could tell needed it. She counts a woman named Betty, whom she met in Grand Rapids and needed help, as a dear friend. She helped Betty, whom Grenell said had been in and out of various public systems and was never adequately educated, receive counseling and a case worker at HealthWest in Muskegon, and helped her move to Whitehall. Betty is now a regular with Grenell at the free store, which helped furnish her apartment and wardrobe.
“Every person I meet has a story,” Grenell said when she received her WLCF grant. “If we open our eyes to these stories, these are good people...The free store gives them back a little bit of their dignity.”
Grenell has help, of course. A half-dozen women help Grenell sort through the donations received at the free store twice a week, and Whitehall’s Pat Schmoekel helps with the store’s operations.
When the store started and pickings were slim, there were strict limitations on what was taken. Grenell recalled at one point, six items of clothing was the maximum amount allowed.
“Then you have a mom walk in who has five children, and six items mean nothing to her,” Grenell said.
There remain limitations on some things - for example, diapers, women’s hygiene items and other things that cannot be purchased with government assistance - simply for availability reasons. Other toiletries, such as shampoo, deodorant, etc. are stocked once a month, usually around the 15th of the month. However, as a whole, the store is stocked enough now that it doesn’t need to be as strict about everything.
“They’re pretty picked over today,” Grenell said during a visit last Thursday. “We had a crowd come swooping in here a little bit ago.”
Grenell is the mayor of those crowds. She spreads the word about the White Lake UMC’s offerings, and people follow.
“People, when they first come, they don’t meet people, then they meet people, and it’s really good,” said Whitehall native Bernice Switanowski. “I belonged to (St. James) Catholic 42 (years), but I lost my husband (Ernest) 10 years ago. It’s hard to do things that I used to do with him that he’s not here to do. I know Ruth, and when she told me about this, I had to come.”
As the store has become more well-known, the quality of the items donated has increased too. Grenell said when the store first started, donations were often delivered in trash bags, and the quality of items would usually befit the delivery method. Now, though, donations can be quite generous. The batch delivered last Thursday - three truckloads’ worth - included a new toaster oven and a quality bedding set, both still in their packaging.
“I think that as people know what we’re doing with it, the quality’s picked up a lot,” Grenell said.
When Grenell’s helpers sort through donations, they make sure items are in good working order and don’t have “a bad odor” on them. Donations that don’t make the cut are sent along to other donation spots in the area.
“They do take children’s clothes home to wash them, because we really are low on kids’ clothes,” Grenell said. “This (donation room) is where they do all their magic.”
Donations are accepted any time, and Grenell said clothes, particularly baby and toddler clothes, are a huge emphasis for the store given how quickly they are snatched up.
The free store continues to grow, and Grenell said she’s in the early stages of what could become a partnership with Mission for Area People out of Muskegon to host a satellite office for them. (A call to MAP was not returned.) The core mission to help people, however, will not change.
“It just makes my heart feel so good,” Grenell said. “We all have so much stuff, and these people don’t have a lot of stuff...I love it.”
