The ground-breaking took place at the building site on Monday, July 20 with county officials attending including the Commissioners and plenty of hard working ladies for the Bargain Bin!
The Bargain Bin has it’s sites on the third location since it’s original opening in 1962. Currently the facility is housed at 118 Perry St. near the corner of Cherry Street in Paulding, Ohio. The Bargain Bin has focused on serving the community through the continuous circle of collecting donations of clothing and other items, sorting then and reselling to people at great prices.
The non-profit organization has donated well over $1,000,000 to the Paulding County Hospital to help the rehab facility according to Rose Munger, vice-president.
The new location is being made possible by the Paulding County Commissioners selling the land, that was originally intended to expand the old jail, for a great price. The Paulding County Area Foundation was able to pay the $5000 to purchase the land and get the ball rolling.
The General Contractor is McDonald Design & Build of Defiance. Kevin McDonald, owner, was there to support the construction.
Rhonda Smalley, president of the Bargain Bin board, stated $164,000 had been raised for the project and only $86,000 more is needed to complete the new structure.
Donations are the driving force making this possible. Lisa McClure of the Area Foundation is collecting funds. If you would like more information contact her at: 101 E. Perry Street, Paulding, OH 45879 or call 419-399-8296.
Once the state approves the plans, the concrete foundation and footer will be poured with the frame going up next. Expectations are in September for this to take place but it will depend on how fast approval comes back.
Eileen Kochensparger of the Bargain Bin passed this information on to the West Bend News:
“Bargain Bin has been in business since the early 1960’s. It was because of the polio epidemic in the 50’s that it has continued over the years. Patients were having to travel to Warm Springs Foundation in Ga. for treatment. Dr. Kenneth Keever was at this facility and the first patient from Paulding County, Susie Gillen became his patient. His daughter was also a polio patient.
“Dr. Kenneth Keever had an interest in physical therapy. After three years at the Georgia facility Dr. Keever moved back to Magnetic Springs and opened up a rehab center. This brought Susie closer home. Dr. Keever purchased the Park Hotel at Magnetic Springs and together with the help of the American Legion auxiliary and other interested women they formed a Branch Auxiliary for Magnetic Springs.
“They had fund raising events, provided pool volunteers for the patients, and even entertained when the opportunity arose.
“In 1960, Susie was released from Magnetic Springs. And the facility closed its doors soon after.
“At this time in Paulding County the new hospital was being planned and the dedicated group of women who had worked so hard for Magnetic Springs chose to donate their support to the hospital and the Bargain Bin was formed with the purpose of providing rehab equipment to the hospital.
“Since that time volunteers have worked weekly to provide a variety of items to the people of Paulding County. And this has all been done by the generous donations that come to the Bargain Bin on a weekly basis. Over the years it is estimated that the Bargain Bin has donated over a million dollars in rehab equipment and educational material to the physical therapy department of Paulding County Hospital.
“We recently gave $5,000 to continue our support of this excellent program. If you have had any kind of therapy, you have used a piece of equipment that has been purchased by the Bargain Bin of Paulding County, Inc.
“In the spring of 2014 we were notified that a benefactor was offering us $80,000 to put towards a new steel building. We considered this a gift from God and we began searching for property for our new proposed building. The Paulding County commissioners offered us a lot on the corner of Harrison and Cherry Street for $5,000. With a donation from Paulding Area Foundation the lot was paid in full and we were now property owners.
“We sent out our bids to several builders stating we had to have a steel building. We finally chose the McDonald Construction Co from Defiance. And we set our goal at $250,000. This amount will build the building and will give us extra for those unexpected surprises as the building goes up.
“We presently have $164,000 in our fund and we have decided to begin the first phase in hopes that when people see we are serious about this they will step forward and help to reach our goal.
“The Bargain Bin is at 118 West Perry Street Paulding, Ohio. Our hours are 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Friday and 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. The work day is usually Monday from 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
“We have a building at the back that if no one is around you can put your donation in there. We do not take large items but this will hopefully change when we get our new building which will be 60×80.
“Officers of the executive committee are Rhonda Smalley president, Rose Munger Vice President, Elaine Gress second Vice, Eileen Kochensparger secretary, Sharon Johanns assistant and Donna Pieper treasurer, Eleanor Brune assistant. Your donation can be sent to 118 West Perry St., Paulding, Ohio and we thank you.”
