27 Jul Growing Together—Our Partnership with Fayetteville Urban Ministry

Fayetteville Urban Ministry is a nonprofit organization which began in 1974 at Hay Street Methodist Church, primarily serving people in the community who needed clothes and food. Alongside that, we, as The Re-Store Warehouse, was created in 1999 (originally located downtown) for the purpose of regular cash flow to Fayetteville Urban Ministry. From then on, growth blossomed in both organizations: Fayetteville Urban Ministry expanded by adding three other programs and we eventually grew as well to become our own nonprofit organization. Our partnership and relationship didn’t stop there, however, and now it’s as interwoven as ever.

Fayetteville Urban Ministry is now located on Whitfield Street and seeks to serve Fayetteville in 4 different “aspects” with 4 different programs: the original Emergency Assistance program, Adult Literacy and Education Center, The Nehemiah Project, and Find-A-Friend (FAF) Youth Program:

Emergency Assistance Program
The Emergency Assistance Program is available for providing the daily necessary essentials to individuals and households in crises, be that food, clothes, shoes, and financial assistance if needed.

Adult Literacy and Education Center
The Adult Literacy and Education Center is for assisting adults struggling in the areas of reading, grammar, math, English language, computer skills, and more. One-on-one tutoring is available along with a full computer lab and books.

Nehemiah Project
The Nehemiah Project helps low-income homeowners with emergency home repairs (these are typically people 65 years and older) and the FAF program serves Fayetteville at-risk youth (brought to them by social workers or judges or other youth agencies) with a youth mentoring program offering one-on-one mentors, group mentoring, and workshops on hygiene, peer pressure, and family relationships.

With each of these programs, Re-Store Warehouse has provided support with their resources and efforts. Johnny Wilson, Executive Director of Fayetteville Urban Ministry, has been a part of this relationship for over ten years. Johnny references the work Bill McMillan does as “abracadabra”. From the work Bill and Re-Store employers do, Bill instantly turns it into a donated allotted sum money for Fayetteville Urban Ministry for their use each quarter.

This “instant” money received has gone a long and beneficial way. For example, the FAF program also involves a summer camp, where children are able to go to camp based on donors and sponsors. The cost is either sponsor one child for a week or sponsor one child for the whole summer. In the past, with Re-Store’s donation of 300 dollars, Fayetteville Urban Ministry was able to sponsor 30 children to go to camp. In 2018, the FAF program expanded into a whole new building, across the street from Fayetteville Urban Ministry’s main building. Services and resources include a computer lab, copier/printer, a gym, and a comfortable kitchen, where Re-Store donated the cabinetry, allowing youth and kids to have snacks while socializing at ease.

Furthermore, other past donations from Re-Store Warehouse included $15,000 towards the emergency assistance program and funds to purchase space heaters for the Nehemiah clients; in some other instances, donations were used to buy literacy materials (i.e. GED prep books), updating the textbooks, and updating computer software for the Adult Literacy/Education Center.

The collaboration with Fayetteville Urban Ministry has only brought growth and, on top of that, neighborly love. Johnny Wilson explains, “The more people we work with, we only empower the community. When we serve and partner with people, like Re-Store Warehouse, we are able to help people in need. We’ve been in this Fayetteville community long enough that people understand this partnership and support it. We have worked with Re-Store Warehouse for over 10 years, and it’s such a fun and caring relationship. They look out for Fayetteville Urban Ministry and support us, when they see people in need, they send them to us. And we send people their way who need household appliances and items. It’s a good and personable relationship.”

We at Re-Store Warehouse strive to help anyone in need and gladly work alongside Fayetteville Urban Ministry. As their mission is to show God’s compassion to others and to build the community together, we will do whatever we can. As Johnny talks about Fayetteville Urban Ministry’s work, “We’ve seen a lot of dreams turn into reality, and we keep believing”, we too keep believing in the service and assistance of others and keep growing together in confidence.