Darlington nonprofit thrift store plagued by burglars

By: Patricia Burkett | SCNOW
Published: March 18, 2009

One local nonprofit thrift store is dealing with tough times after several break-ins over the past couple of months.

The Angels of Mercy Bargain Barn is located at 2001S. Main Street in Darlington.

It donates all of its profits to help special needs children in Darlington County who are suffering from speech or communications problems.

The store's owner, Karen Galloway, uses profits made from donated items to throw parties and gatherings for the special needs children.

But now Galloway doesn't know how she'll be able to fix the damage done to her business through the burglaries, while still keeping alive her mission to help others.

In the past couple of months, someone either broke in or attempted to break into the store, three different times.

"It seems like whenever we get started in the right direction to benefit something for these children, then something like this here happens and we have to pull the money to do the repairs on this," said Galloway.

The first time, the burglars broke one of the doors and stole the entire cash register.

This past week, they tried to break in twice- breaking the original door once again and breaking the other entrance as well.

"We have to pay somebody for their time, to come do the work, to repair the door casing, the new doorknobs, we had to buy a new door, this time we replaced this one to the best we could to keep from putting out more money we don't have," Galloway said.

Now Galloway only hopes that whoever is responsible for the burglaries, will have a change of heart.

"I'm hoping that it will stop and if you have any sympathy whatsoever for the hard work that we would put in here, for the special needs children, because Darlington County does not have activities, camps, anything like that for these children, that is what we're here for, we need to put money toward that and not toward damages that you may cause," Galloway said.

Galloway says she can't afford new doors right now, so she's just trying to get enough money to adequately fix them for now.

If you'd like to help by donating a door or your time to help fix the doors, you can go by the store on S. Main street in Darlington, or give them a call at (843) 395-2292 .