SIOUX CITY | Tom Lingscheit grabs one end of a bed while Robert Ehlers scoots it into the back of a delivery truck.
They will be delivering this bed as well as other types of furniture to people transitioning out of homelessness or a women's shelter or, even, the prison system.
Lingscheit and Ehlers are both volunteers for MoM's Thrift & Referral Center, a nonprofit organization formerly known as Mission of the Messiah.
An outreach ministry started by the congregations of the Western Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, the organization also sells secondhand furnishings, household items and clothing at 2803 Correctionville Road.
"When people see our truck, they'll flag us down, hoping we'll take their old furniture," Lingscheit says. "Sometimes we're able to help them. Other times, we simply can't."
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MoMs' board president Bob Kistler said the organizations work locally with organizations like the Council on Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence (CSADV), Dismas Charities, among others.
"Often times, we'll receive furniture from a person who is entering assisted living," he explains. "So, one person making a transition is helping another person going through another kind of transition."
A veteran of nonprofit organizations, Kistler is a believer of giving a person "a hand up, not a handout."
"The people who request our help or walk through our doors may not look like us or talk like us," he says. "Still, they are in need and we're here to help."
That help may come in the form of a bed ("you'll need a good night sleep in order to look for a new job") or clothing ("everyone needs a few pairs of pants or a few shirts") to get them on their feet again.
"People say the economy's improving," Kistler says, shaking his head. "It hasn't improve for those in the lowest wrung."
Which is why his drivers keep busy by picking up donations and delivering them to designated applicants.
On a busy Wednesday morning, Kistler mans phone lines from people wanting assistance while taking care of customers in the thrift store.
Mission of the Messiah started in 2010 to help the poor by selling gently used clothing, household items and furniture at an affordable price. It recently got a new name thanks to a marketing class at Morningside College. Students helped with the re-branding in order to make it clear that the Correctionville Road building is an open-to-the-public thrift store, not a church.
"We realized the thrift store needed to be run like a business," Kistler says. "Poverty isn't just an ELCA Lutheran concern, it's everybody's concern."
He admits many of the thrift store's best customers aren't necessarily poor. They simply like a good bargain.
Joan Kelly fits into that latter category. She and "Teddy Bear," her Dachshund-poodle mix, shop at MoM's a few times a week.
"I love the shoes and the clothes here," Kelly says, perusing the shelves. "Plus I love knick-knacks. I think I've redecorated my apartment from things I've found here."
Listening to people like Kelly, Kistler can't help but smile.
"We do what we can with what's available," he says. "It's always a challenge. Whether people are making a change in their lives or simply wanting inexpensive things, we want to be there for the community."
