Second Harvest, 'more than a Sharpsburg thrift store,' funds community programs

At Camp Guyasuta in O’Hara, visitors will have six new mountain bikes to hit the trails this summer along with a bevy of other supplies that include life jackets, helmets for the ropes course and eight new campfire rings.

Camp Ranger Mike Daniher said there will be three new special harnesses purchased for people in wheelchairs to ride the zip line across the valley.

Not far down the road, the Sharpsburg Market Garden will have the capability to chill fresh-picked veggies and store them, thanks to new solar panels.

“The cooler will hold the vegetables so we can distribute them at free market days,” garden Manager Ruthann McGarry said. “We can’t wait to use it full time this season.”

The improvements come courtesy of an unlikely source – a community thrift store and gathering space that opened just two years ago.

Second Harvest, at 624 Clay St. in Sharpsburg, is pegged as a self-sustaining source of funds for surrounding communities because profits are reinvested, both as living wage jobs and grants to accelerate existing neighborhood efforts.

“Granting our profits locally really means a lot to the people who donate their goods here and who shop here,” said Executive Director Bonnie DeMotte, of O’Hara.

“You can feel so good about passing on your quality items or buying something here, knowing that the dollars we generate from the sale is employing your neighbors and supporting so many local organizations who are also working to impact your community.

“It’s a full circle, hyper-local economy that benefits everyone involved.”

Since opening in spring of 2021, the bright and tidy store is thriving. Shelves are brimming with gently used merchandise; books overflow from the library area near the coffee bar.

The dream, however, was always to be more than a store, DeMotte said.

As it celebrates its second year in business, the Second Harvest board announced the inaugural Community Development Grants.

A $10,000 Patsy Grable Burke Memorial Grant was awarded to Fox Families Care. The money will help bridge the gap between the needs and resources of families in the Fox Chapel Area School District.

A $5,000 Wilma Stoebener Memorial Grant went to Roots of Faith. Money will support the Circles program, a holistic national anti-poverty program that inspires and equips communities to reduce poverty and remove barriers that stand in the way.

Other recipients include the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, Sharpsburg Community Library, Backpack For Hunger and Volunteers of America Pennsylvania.

At the Sharpsburg Market Garden, McGarry said the new solar panels will make a world of difference.

The site along 13th and Middle streets houses raised beds that grow potatoes, strawberries and other veggies that are given away for free during Friday Market nights.

With no grocery store in the borough, the garden is a critical tool to help alleviate food insecurity, McGarry said.

Hundreds of pounds of produce come from the gardens each summer. Now, thanks to the chilled cooler, people will get them at their prime.

“They can be picked during the week at peak ripeness and held to until Market day,” McGarry said.

Solar panels also will be used to charge batteries for garden tools.

DeMotte said that the priority of Second Harvest is to ensure that staff is valued and compensated with a fair, living wage.

With that in place, the goal is to support the groups who make a difference in the community, she said.

“From the day we opened our doors, we have been so fortunate to be able to operate profitably,” DeMotte said.

“We certainly didn’t expect to be able to grant over $20,000 in our first year of business but I think it’s a testament to how the entire community has embraced our desire to be more than a store.”