Idaho

IDAHO CONFERENCE // NEWS

BANANA BOX BARGAINS

HE SAYING MOST OF US HAVE HEARD — “NO MONEY, NO MISSION” — IS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN BY IDAHO’S PAYETTE ADVENTIST CHURCH. THEY HAVE A WAY TO MAKE MONEY FOR MISSION. THE BANANA BOX BARGAIN STORE IS A SOURCE OF FUNDS FOR MINISTRY WHILE BEING A MINISTRY ITSELF.

Charleen Williams, wife of the Payette Church pastor, is the one who brought the concept to Idaho. She had done the same thing in Alaska and is excited to have an even bigger store to work with now.

The store provides food items Williams buys at a discount from suppliers because they are “less than perfect.” The items are sold to the Banana Box store at a bargain price. The community meets store staff and sees the church

Howard Williams, Payette Church pastor, is one of the many volunteers. His wife, Charleen, started Banana Box Bargains.

IDAHO CONFERENCE // NEWS

More online at glnr.in/115-05-id_banana

in a positive way while saving money.

Banana Box Bargains also includes a thrift store with donated clothing items. These are sold in the store but also

Volunteer Sandy cleans the benches outside the store.

available to help those in need of clothing.

The funds from the sales and donated clothing go to help the community. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Ontario, Oregon, has been utilizing their services on a regular basis. Glenn Blankenship, a Saint Alphonsus social

Charleen Williams (left) and another volunteer organize the stockroom.

worker, says he has used it about once a month since he learned of the services. He tells a story of a woman in her 20s who desperately needed a place to stay for one night, allowing time to set up services through the Community in Action program. She had been exposed to coronavirus. Through the Banana Box funds, the Payette Church provided a stay for one night in a motel before other agencies were able to help her with housing and a job. Later Blankenship heard from Community in Action that this woman had become a success story.

The Banana Box ministry also provided food to a Saint Alphonsus patient who was moving and had no food. Because she couldn’t go shopping after she was discharged from the hopsital, area churches and volunteers made sure to deliver food to this patient and her family in a town more than 20 miles away.

The Payette Church and the ministry they are providing through Banana Box Bargains is a blessing to the communities along the border between Idaho and Oregon.

Danette Reitz, Vale Church member

Volunteers run the cash register.

Ernie is one of many volunteers who keep Banana Box Bargains running and providing funds to help the local and neighboring community.