Threads, Hope, & Love

By Diana Sluder, with Cindy & Bethany Shuford

According to Cindy Shuford, the president and one of six co-founders of Threads, Hope, & Love, the founding of Threads resulted from Pastor Tom Goodell of Crossroads United Methodist Church sharing his vision of creating a nondenominational mission organization to help people in need. Shuford added, “Feeling strongly about this, Goodell put an inquiry at the end of the church’s monthly newsletter for all to read.”

Shuford added, “The newsletter asked if anyone had any interest in a clothing giveaway for low-income people. I know personally that it almost knocked me down, and I knew it was meant for me. I had a lot of empathy for people who had gone through difficult times during that period. The question had the same effect on my daughter, Bethany, at the time, as well as on fellow churchgoers Jim and Sandy Tunnell and Alisa Smith-Reetz. We were all together in a small Sunday School classroom at Crossroads and engaged in this conversation.

“Even though the entire idea of Threads originated among those of us in that discussion, we concluded that the goal of a not-for-profit group giving clothing and other items to the needy would be great, but this clothing mission needed its own independence. It needed to be outside of the church—we realized that after the first couple of giveaways. We also discussed that we did not want the organization to be owned by any particular church or group, nor did we want to be dependent on businesses or the government. It also needed to be strictly not-for-profit. After much discussion and the initial giveaways as ‘Washington Clothing Giveaway,’ the founders decided that this organization would temporarily call itself ‘Samaritan’s Closet,’ later changing to ‘Threads of Love,’ and finally settling on its current name for 13 years: ‘Threads, Hope, & Love, NFP.’ There would be no restrictions for those receiving donations and services from Threads. Volunteers were to fill out an application and follow the guidelines to help Threads grow successfully.

Over time, Threads was approved for its legal 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status, completed the trademark process for its name and logo, and started the process of being governed by many local churches with the same focus. Since Threads did not have its own location yet, volunteers spent time going from church to church distributing clothing to people and then packing it all back up. It was returned to available homes, garages, and storage rooms, and after planning the next month’s giveaway, it was moved all over again. Clearly, serving people and transporting items to all these buildings repeatedly was a tremendous amount of work.

Shuford shared a story from an early giveaway. “During our second giveaway at the church, an older lady came in with a list of all her grandchildren and their clothing sizes. We would take the bags as soon as they were full and set them aside for her. Sometimes she would stop to sit down and rest her legs. That’s when God stepped in. You see, this lady was quite large, and you could tell she hadn’t had nice clothes in a long time. She was probably not as old as she looked. When I talked to her, I could tell she’d had a very tough life. She finished gathering lots of clothing for the grandkids and then asked about clothes for herself. As I looked across the room, I saw the table was empty. She walked up to the table and began to cry. The coat she was wearing was old and torn. There were four of us working when this happened, and all of us began crying too. That’s when it happened! An older man entered and said his wife had died long ago, but today, he felt a strong feeling that he needed to bring the clothing to us. It was a large bag. When we opened it, it contained beautiful clothing and even a coat in the woman’s size. We took the bag and sat it in front of her, still crying. She looked inside, and her tears of sadness and desperation turned to tears of joy. As she left, she looked up and said, ‘Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus.’ We then informed Pastor Tom that we needed to find a permanent location to do this regularly. That day changed lives!”

Local churches allowed Threads to have giveaways in their all-purpose rooms. All of the clothing was still at Crossroads UMC, so they would fill bins with everything they needed, and trucks would haul everything back and forth. Several trips were necessary, and it was a lot of work.

Shuford continued: “We had gathered churches together at Five Points to discuss our plans. By then, we had added more volunteers, including Marilyn Hunt. Every day, she drove past a fencing business. One day, they put up a ‘for rent’ sign. It was a huge warehouse in a great location. She immediately informed us, and we contacted the owners. They were wonderful and asked if we were interested in renting 5000 square feet of the building. They charged us $1 a month, plus we covered the utility bills. We were thrilled. We stayed in the warehouse for nearly two years until the owners said they needed to charge much more because they were struggling with their business. 

“By this time, we had 10 church representatives and a board of officers. The officers were Cindy Shuford as President, Alisa Smith-Reetz as Vice President, Marilyn Hunt as Treasurer, and Glenn Essig served as our Secretary. I was looking for help because, at this point, money was our biggest challenge. I came across a group called S.C.O.R.E. in Peoria. They stepped in and helped us launch a capital campaign. It saved us from having to shut Threads down.

“We bought the former West Meats building at 121 Zinser Place in March 2013. We had no idea how terrible that old building was until we started tearing down walls. At one point, the entire side of the building had to be demolished and rebuilt. As we needed money, it was always there, always. If we needed $1,000, a check would come in for $1,500. It was so amazing. God kept giving and giving, so we knew this was where we needed to be.

“Then, the historic EF4 Tornado hit our town. We were working out of a former church youth group building while the renovation was still ongoing. It was so frightening to see all of the loss and damage. People brought things into the community, and we began filling three semi-trailers, which we parked at our nearly finished permanent home. We started buying loads of shelving units to transform it into a tornado relief site. We had information on every house that was damaged or destroyed. We worked as a relief center for two or three months. We also collaborated with Toys for Tots to give toys to families affected by the tornado. We still work with them every Christmas.

Threads never questions the incomes of the people who come for those giveaways. Clients can visit twice each month. They are to have their photo ID or a passport, and once, bring proof of their children, such as medical cards. They are given one bag for clothing and one bag for shoes, housewares, linens, toys, and many other items to choose from. A lot of merchandise is much larger than the bag. There is also a NABA-certified butterfly garden in front of the building, maintained by Rob and Rebecca Bell, who work at every giveaway to help all the clients outside before the event opens. 

According to Shuford, “Sometimes our clothing donations are not in good enough condition to give directly to our clients, so we share them with places that can use them. We have a missionary who picks up clothing to ship to three countries in Africa. There are people who cover the shipping costs, and they have people waiting when the ship docks to pick up the donations and send them where they are needed. Some clothing is used as actual clothing, while some is repurposed as salvaged fabric to make clothing. He also uses wire hangers as steel for various purposes. Our missionary said that when you buy a handmade item from Africa, you never know if it may contain donations from us. We also send overstock to Redbird Mission in the mountains of Kentucky, as well as flip-flops and sandals to the Philippines. None of this is at our expense. Threads, Hope & Love NFP has gone global.”

As of 2025, the current board of officers includes President and co-founder Cindy Shuford, Vice President Marilyn Humphrey, Secretary Bethany Shuford, and Treasurer Sharon Gates. They also have church representatives on the board. Board meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at 6:30, and everyone is welcome.

The most needed donations include men’s clothing, children’s clothing, shoes in excellent condition, kitchen items, small functional appliances, linens, bath towels, sheets, jewelry, holiday decorations, home décor, toys in good condition with no missing parts, and many other items. They cannot accept cribs, car seats, baby bouncers, clothing that has been stored and is musty or moldy, or clothes that smell like smoke. Threads is open for donations on Tuesdays from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. They will also accept financial contributions.

They also hold Christmas events for hundreds of children from Tazewell County and always need new toys, as well as gift cards for many of the older kids, such as those from Walmart, Target, or other stores, or gift cards for inexpensive restaurants for teens.