Community Closet Highlights Generosity of Franklin Neighbors

Pastor Jacob Juncker, shown, calls the Community Closet at the Franklin United Methodist Church “an experiment in generosity,” a call the Franklin community has answered.
By J.D. O’Gara
“Ask and ye shall receive.”
The Franklin United Methodist Church (UMC), in a way, acts as an instrument of this Bible verse (Matthew 7:7) with its Community Closet, which opened in mid-March of 2024. The Community Closet collects new and gently used clothing and distributes them free of charge to anyone in the community.
Franklin UMC Pastor Jacob Juncker, on a church website page, calls the effort “an experiment in generosity relying on community volunteers and donations to operate.” He notes that, in nine months of operation, the Closet logged over 400 visits from volunteers and shoppers during regular open hours and helped an estimated 700 people. That’s not including individual appointments or visits from social service agencies shopping for their constituents.
“When the EA (Emergency Assistance) shelter opened in Franklin, around October of 2023, the Franklin Interfaith Council started collecting a whole bunch of items for the shelter,” says Pastor Juncker, whose church acted as a “storehouse and focal point for those donations.” He adds, “As the urgent needs of the shelter were finally met, we still had clothing left. We’d given out a lot, but donations kept coming in. It became evident that there wasn’t really a clothing resource in the town of Franklin that was free, and so we made the pivot to open ing the closet for anyone in the community who might need clothing or want clothing. It was really just an experiment in generosity to see if we could do it.”
The result is heartening.
“The generosity of the community has outpaced the want and the need of every single request that has been made of us. It really is spectacular to bear witness to that. We’ve never not had enough. It’s incredible. It really is. Folks in franklin are amazingly generous,” says Juncker, who has been UMC pastor since 2018.
Tuesday is an important day of the week for the Community Closet. On the first and third Tuesdays, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., the site is open for anyone who needs clothing. It can also be opened by appointment.
“There is zero charge. We don’t ask any questions of anyone if they express a want or a need for clothing. There is no screening,” says Juncker.
On the second and fourth Tuesdays (that’s February 11th and 25th this month), volunteers sort the clothing, and the Community Closet could use some help in this department. Volunteers are also needed to help host the shop for the community. High school students in town can also use this toward their school volunteer hours. To sign up, click the “volunteer” link at https://franklinumc.org.
The small UMC congregation has a deep impact and reach into the community, says Juncker, noting that, in addition to the closet, the UMC hosts Tri-Valley Inc.’s Meals on Wheels program (which also needs volunteers), a language immersion school, reaches out with free community concerts and cookouts, and makes its space available to community groups. In fact, this month, the church will host a concert at 7 p.m. on February 8th with The Padula Trio.
With its neighbors in mind, the church is working on a capital campaign to make the church more accessible and usable. For example, the Community Closet, at the top of a 150-year-old staircase, is currently not physically accessible for some folks with mobility issues.
“We’re hoping to break ground on a new addition to the church in the next few months,” says the pastor.
For more information on the UMC, the Community Closet or the capital campaign, visit https://franklinumc.org.