Nettle Creek neighbors are stepping up to help their community’s secondhand shop reopen in a new downtown location.
Within five minutes, a call for help buying new shelves for the nonprofit Hagerstown Thrift Store was answered.
Chris Lane, president of Nettle Creek Community Coalition, said the store had made do before the flood with shelves most people would throw away, so all profits could go to scholarships and community grants. He offered to buy the first five shelves ($120 each), noting the coalition’s food pantry had found them sturdy. He then asked for at least $600 in donations toward additional safe displays for clothes and items, and that goal was met in minutes.
The shop is reopening at 18 E. Main St., beside regional attraction Willie & Red’s restaurant. It was previously east of downtown near Nettle Creek Hardware and Hagerstown Food Market.
Susie Lewis, board chair, said the store hopes to open Friday, Oct. 16. “It’s so inspiring to see so much of the Nettle Creek (and Western Wayne) community behind us and supporting us,” she said. “We were blessed to be able to relocate, and the new location will give the store so much more exposure.”
The old location’s landlord told Lewis the water reached over 5 feet deep inside the store, so nearly everything got “tossed around.”
Dozens of volunteers, including many students, gathered after the water receded to clear out damaged items so the building could be power washed. Lewis offered special thanks to Ashley and Tom Golliher, who organized the cleanup and got the community involved, and Lanelle Blevins Fisher, for helping tell the story of the cleanup on social media.
Store organizers asked on Oct. 6 that donors hold their gently used items a few more days while the new store is set up.
Organizers said volunteers, customers and strangers showed them what community means. “Every helping hand, encouraging word, donation, phone call and prayer meant more to us than you may ever know,” read a social media post announcing the new location.
Lane welcomes additional donations toward supplies such as a mini fridge, paper, batteries, trash cans, door mats and a large dry-erase board.
The flood caused major damage to several Hagerstown businesses, school athletic facilities and homes along and near Indiana 38.
Tax-deductible donations for the store or general flood relief can be made at www.nettlecreekcommunitycoalition.org/disaster-relief. They can also be mailed or delivered to 47 E. Main St., Hagerstown, IN 47346, during office hours on Wednesdays or Fridays.
NCCC helps flood survivors with cleanup, home repairs and replacing household items. It also runs food and personal care pantries from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on the second and fourth Fridays for residents of Hagerstown, Dalton, Greens Fork, Economy, Williamsburg and Cambridge City. For more information, call 765-489-3394.
A version of this article appeared in the October 14 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
