ASHLAND – What started as a pile of unwanted stuff at the curb in front of her Washington Street home has turned into a much larger operation for Mandy Heilman.
About a year ago, Heilman had a few random items she didn’t need anymore and wasn’t sure what to do with them. Instead of taking them somewhere, she left them in front of her home. Before she knew it, the items were gone.
So, she left items out at the curb a few more times, with the same result. That’s when she started changing how she did things, setting up “free sales,” garage sales where everything is free.
“The first time I did a free sale, I had 14 boxes. In my mind, at that time, that was huge. I was excited. It just casually grew,” Heilman said.
She told her friends about her giveaways, and many of them decided to give her their unwanted items to add to her collection.
“I had a friend who offered to help me one day, and she ended up helping me do several. We were doing one or two a week. Sixty people would be a small one and there were a couple days where we probably had 120 people, but I never ran out of inventory,” Heilman said.
Whenever they have given away most of their items and are low on inventory, more items seem to arrive.
“One day we were kind of low and this woman randomly drives by and she was like, ‘What are you doing?’ and I said, ‘It’s a big free sale. Everything is free.’
“She was so blown away. She was like, ‘I’ve actually got five bags I was going to take to Goodwill but you can have them,’” Heilman said. “It’s ironic I guess, but I think it’s more of a God thing.”
The former owner of Frugal Treasures donated clothes racks and some of her inventory to Heilman when the store closed.
“It eventually escalated to a point where I always had my garage full, front to back, side to side with boxes heaped up at least as tall as me,” Heilman said.
After her church, Southview Grace Brethren, hosted a giveaway last Christmas, they had so many items left over that Heilman was able to bring home enough stuff to fill two garages. A friend donated their garage for the overflow stock until they were able to give away all but a few boxes within a month.
“And then by February, my garage was full again with items people had donated,” Heilman said.
Her church recently hosted another giveaway for “Back to School” which again helped hundreds of Ashland County families. So many people had donated items that Heilman again was able to bring home a garage-full of items, which overflowed into her home.
Now, Heilman is opening a “store” in her garage, with clothes, shoes and miscellaneous items arranged on shelves, tables and racks, and overflow inventory tucked away in bins.
“I never had that intention (to open a store) on Day One. It wasn’t my thought. It just grew,” Heilman said.
At Heilman’s “Paid In Full” store, all items are free to anyone who needs them. Well, almost free. Heilman asks that everyone who takes an item from the store do one of six things as “payment.” The six forms of “payment” are memorizing a Bible verse, sweeping the floor, organizing hangars, restocking items, making sure tables are full or organizing new items that come into the store.
There are a few limits on how much people can take to make sure more people can benefit from the store. Because of the excess inventory of women’s and girls’ clothes, there is no limit on how many of those items people can take, “within reason,” Heilman said.
For men and boys’ clothes, which seem to be harder to come by, Heilman said, there is a limit of three outfits, or six items.
Toys are limited to two per person. Shoes are limited to two pairs per person.
Angie Henke, who runs a similar store called Reaching Out in Mansfield, has been a mentor to Heilman, giving advice and allowing her to pick up some of the extra inventory. Heilman said she hopes to one day have a storefront in Ashland like Henke has in Mansfield.
The Paid In Full Store’s hours will be posted regularly on the store’s Facebook page, and Heilman said it will always be available for emergency situations.
A special “grand opening” will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 27 at the store at 224 Washington St. Five gift baskets will be given away and food will be served.
Anyone wanting to donate items can contact Heilman on Facebook.
