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WARREN -- Wanting to sprinkle kindness while also remembering her mother, Tracy Gantz started a new shop, Sprinkle Kindness Thrifts and Gifts, inside the Warren Baptist Church building, 3217 Surrey Road.
Gantz said her mother, Charlotte Barratt of Vienna, who had been sick for more than two years, died at age 75 on Mother's Day 2022 and she remembered her mother always being a shopper and collecting many things.
What started out as an estate sale led to something else.
Gantz, who volunteers at a local women's resource center, said many people have asked if they could donate items to help the women.
She said while it was hard to lose her mother and especially on Mother's Day, it also was difficult to lose her father in November 2019.
"We were discussing having my father's celebration of life after Thanksgiving in December 2019. My mom missed Thanksgiving dinner because she was not feeling well. She thought she had the flu and did not want anyone around her. On Dec. 7, she had to go to the emergency room for surgery. I was crying because I had just lost my father," Gantz said
She said her mother survived her surgery but ended up for months in the hospital and then the coronavirus pandemic hit, so she lived with her.
"It was a crazy time for me and my family," Gantz said.
She said her shop has a special area with items that were her mother's, including a colorful butterfly rug.
Gantz said the shop is in her mother's memory and has a Christian theme.
"I want this shop to be her legacy. She would always thrift shop and was able to find the best stuff and always at a great deal. We would leave the price tags to show each other how much we paid for something," she said.
Gantz said with God's help, she was able to turn that tragedy into a triumph by starting Sprinkle Kindness Thrifts and Gifts. Gantz said she created a place where people can come to donate items and to shop.
Gantz said she knows many people who have lost loved ones unexpectedly.
"I have met so many others who have lost spouses, parents and others and become so depressed just sitting home and getting sadder and withdrawing. This is a place for people to feel welcomed, volunteer or just chat. It's so much more than just a place to shop. It's a place to come and socialize, and to sit and visit with a friend," she said.
Gantz said those who want can also pray in the shop.
"I love the fact that people come in and we can pray with them. We are in a building where a church is. I like being here where we can bring people together. The women who volunteer here have all lost their moms. That has allowed us to connect," she said.
The shop is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Charity Byers of Warren said she lost her mom and dad when she was 20 and 21.
"When she (Gantz) was going through this, I could relate to what I had gone through," Byers said.
Byers said the shop attracts people of all ages.
Mary Messenger of Warren said the shop has a great atmosphere and she and many others were brought together through their church.
"You really get to know the people who come in here," she said.
A portion of the proceeds from the store go to help support the women's resource center. Plans are to move the shop to a plaza in Howland and open there in July.