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Rugged and Unique donations help veterans

Times West Virginian - 6/11/2017

June 11--WHITE HALL -- Disabled veterans are getting more donations since a local thrift store opened up shop.

Rugged and Unique is a thrift shop in the Middletown Mall that sells used items including women's clothes, men's clothes, children's clothes, scrubs, purses, shoes, jewelery, swimwear, kitchen supplies, dolls and books.

Owner Shirley Webb gives 10 percent of her proceeds to the Disabled American Veteran Chapter 45.

"I don't want to send it anywhere else, but keep it here, local," she said of her donations.

Webb said she found out that Rugged and Unique's first donation had kept a veteran's electricity on.

"They were going to shut his electric off, a disabled veteran, and I was able to keep his electric on for him," she said and smiled.

Webb said she always wanted to open a business and she wanted to help veterans, but did not know what to do originally.

"There's so many in my family on my husband's side that's in the military. My husband was in the Navy. His dad was in the military. His brother is in the military. We have a step-grandson; he just re-enlisted," she said. "And so you hear many, many, many stories from all of them that are in there.

"A lot of people seemed to be going to thrift stores, and I thought, 'Hmm, in my closet I have a lot of things that could be used. And in my daughter's closet, she has lots of things that could be used. I think I could start a thrift store. And the veterans would benefit from it.'"

After purchasing the display tables she needed for her store, she contacted George Davis, commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 45, the Morgantown and Fairmont chapter.

"Any time a veteran needs something, they get in touch with this George Davis," she said. "So anyhow, every month now I write the disabled veterans a check out from the proceeds of the sales of my store."

Webb said she gives 10 percent of her proceeds to the disabled veterans, but some months it has been more.

"The better I do, the better they do," she said.

Although it is not technically a nonprofit business, she said she does not take a check from her work.

Davis and Webb estimated the donations from her first three months of business were between $700 and $900.

She said her goal is to be able to give $500 a month.

"I would like to see it grow to a point that I have to go bigger," she said. "I just hope that one day it's all emptied out and it just has to keep getting refilled, you know, so the veterans can really prosper from this."

Davis said he was very much surprised when Webb wanted to donate proceeds from Rugged and Unique.

"We have to work for every donation we get, usually standing out in front of Wal-Mart or somewhere like that collecting money," he said.

He estimated that the chapter raises about $7,000 to $10,000 a year to help disabled veterans with various parts of their finances.

"It's everything from food to medical bills, prescriptions ... turn-off notices for utilities," Davis said.

The number of disabled veterans the chapter helps in a year, he said, is around 40-50.

"At the end of the year, we're pretty much on empty," he said. "Every bit helps ... (Webb) is willing to make that commitment every month to help us out."

He said occasionally the chapter will receive donations from individuals or businesses, but it has never received consistent donations from a business.

"To have somebody like Shirley Webb be willing to step out and donate money that they're using for their livelihood to donate it toward helping us help veterans, it's just incredible. And we're so very, very appreciative of her and her attitude toward veterans," Davis said.

Webb said the community can get involved by shopping at the store and donating items to the store.

"I think it's a win-win situation. People get rid of things they don't want; people come in and buy the things that they want, and the veterans get the benefit from it," Webb said.

Email Leah Nestor at lnestor@timeswv.com.

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