Teens will be able to ‘pay it forward’ at church shop

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — For the last year and a half the Pay It Forward Kids Shop and Baby Boutique at the Dover-Foxcroft United Methodist Church has been providing clothing and other items for newborns to age 12. Now ages 13-19 will be served at the new Pay It Forward Teen Shop, which offers clothing and items for this age group for free but also with the encouragement to return the favor.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    PAY IT FOWARD TEEN SHOP — Articles of clothing and other items for teenagers are now available at the Dover-Foxcroft United Methodist Church Pay It Forward Teen Shop. Merchandise is available at no cost, but shoppers are asked to “to pay it forward” by performing a good deed for someone else.

    “We have a little bit of everything for teens,” said Barbara Clark, one of the church members involved in the two Pay It Forward shops. “We have jewelry, jeans for girls and boys, we have tees, blouses and hats,” she said as the items for ages 13-19 are housed in a separate room on the second floor of the church fellowship hall.
    “We even have a few gowns for when prom season comes,” Clark said. She said all of the donated articles of clothing are “like new or new.” Clark said the Pay It Forward Teen Shop has decor items, with a clock, some stuffed animals and books displayed recently.
    “We get new items in every week, so if someone has been in they can come back,” she said.
    The Dover-Foxcroft United Methodist Church’s former pastor Rev. Dodie Sheffield worked to get the Pay It Forward Kids Shop and Baby Boutique started, with the shop opening in the spring of 2012. In the year and a half since hundreds of children, from over 20 different communities, have been served.
    Items at both shops are free but those stopping by are asked to limit their clothing selections to five per child, per month with diapers, shoes, hats, mittens and coats for children not counting toward the five items. While parents shop, children can play in the toy room and take a toy home.
    The shops have no income requirement, as those involved know most parents can use a little help with the cost of raising children. “There is zero cost, but all we ask is they pay it forward,” Clark said. “They can donate items back, give someone a smile, shovel a neighbor’s walk, anything to pay it forward.”
    “A local person made our racks to hang our items on,” Clark said about a good deed performed for the shops. “Some of our roller racks were donated.” She said shop organizer Sue Bartley and her husband “gave us the three big bookcases,” used in the teen shop.
    Both shops are located at 156 East Main Street. The Pay It Forward Kids Shop and Baby Boutique is open on the second and third Wednesday on each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the teen shop then open from 3 to 5:30 p.m. For more information call 564-8055 or go to www.doverfoxcroftunitedmethodist.org.