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King’s Home Collections, a gift and furniture retail store operated by King’s Home in Chelsea, has received much support since opening in mid-April. (Contributed)

By EMILY SPARACINO | Special to the Reporter

CHELSEA – The last four months have been a season of growth and excitement for King’s Home as the program opened a brick-and-mortar gift and furniture retail store in Chelsea in April.

King’s Home Collections features items that are handmade by women and youth at King’s Home, along with providing jobs and job training for the program’s residents.

“Response to the store has been amazing,” King’s Home President Lew Burdette wrote. “Through social media posts with pictures of our furniture, customers are coming from as far away as Gadsden to purchase our beautiful restored, refurbished and repainted furniture.”

The store offers items produced from various King’s Home programs, including the following:

• King’s Home Pottery (Prodigal Pottery) – pottery handmade by women fleeing homelessness, domestic abuse and sex trafficking.
• King’s Home Thrift and Restorations – fine furniture donated to King’s Home Thrift refinished to its original beauty or hand-painted to look like new, all restored with help from the women and youth at King’s Home.
• King’s Home Garden – plants, herbs, homemade jellies, fresh farm eggs and flowers in season, plus woodwork handmade by King’s Home youth.

Burdette said the outpouring of support from the community since the store’s grand opening has been “wonderful.”

“King’s Home Collections carries a wide assortment of gifts supporting other ministries like WellHouse and Christian businesses as well as our very own, King’s Home Prodigal Pottery,” Burdette said. “We also showcase King’s Home Garden items that our youth participate in and learn life lessons from gardening, raising chickens for fresh eggs and honey bees.”

According to Burdette, two major reasons for starting King’s Home Collections were to showcase King’s Home Prodigal Pottery and to create a new jobs program for the teenagers and mothers at King’s Home.

“Three to four of our adult mom residents are working daily restoring, refinishing and repainting beautiful furniture donated to King’s Home,” Burdette said. “In addition, our teenagers are learning aspects of retail by working in the store part-time after school and on Saturdays. These are competitive paying jobs for our residents just like we provide at Prodigal Pottery, where 14 of our women work making beautiful, handmade pottery.”

King’s Home Collections is located at 110 Chelsea Corners and is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information about King’s Home, visit Kingshome.com.

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