By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Angela Horn, 34, of La Crosse is in the fourth year of a tradition to honor her brother, Timothy.

Timothy passed away in 2011 at the age of 29.

“He would have given the shirt off his back if they had asked,” she said.

Angela started honoring her brother’s memory by adopting families at Christmas, but she wanted to do more.

Angela her friend, Heather Smith, her family as well as other friends and community volunteers offer free gifts with no questions asked at Christmas. They call it the Pay It Forward Store.

“I like to help people and my brother would like to help people,” she said. “To me, it makes his memory live on.”

Timothy’s son, who is 9, helps at the store. Angela said he has no real memory of his dad, but he feels connected to his father through the store.

The Horns take donations of gently used toys, household decorative items, electronics, used gaming systems, baby items, as well as coats, hats, gloves and scarves leading up to Christmas. This year, the store will have a drawing for an American Girl doll.

There is no application process to receive items at the store. You do not have to be from Ellis County to participate.

Hours for the store are 4 to 9 p.m. Fridays, 1 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 8 p.m. Sundays Dec. 1 through Dec. 23. The store is in the former RUE 21 location at Big Creek Crossing. The store will not be open if volunteers are not available.

Parents can shop for their kids. Kids can shop for parents or siblings.

The store works with the Norton Correction Facility, which refurbishes used bicycles for children. Horn will have a few bikes in the store, but had a preregistration process for the bulk of the bikes. About 30 children signed up for the bikes this year.

Shoppers can also wrap their presents for free at a wrapping station at the store.

Angela does not keep track of the number of people she helps with the store, but she estimates she is averaging about 75 to 125 shoppers. Angela sponsors an annual Pay It Forward Pageant. She uses any proceeds from the pageant to buy items for the store. The store is otherwise supported through donations and run by volunteers.

Horn said the store is filling a void in the community that other non-profits are not.

Shirley Horn, Angela’s mother, said some people who have used the store are too proud to ask for assistance from other agencies. They make a small cash donation of what they can, donate other items or volunteer time at the store.

Horn gave several examples where the store was able to provide just what families needed at Christmas. A family last year lost their home in a fire before Christmas, and the store provided them all the items they could to get them back on their feet.

A women came in last year who was eight months pregnant and took home a crib.

“It was the one thing she didn’t have and really needed,” Angela said.

This year, the store has a rocking chair in its baby section.

In a previous year, a father was laid off in early December.

“He had missed every deadline,” Angela said of other assistance programs.

The father used the store to provide Christmas to his family.

“We had a women come in. We had a keyboard donated last year,” Angela said. “The only thing her daughter wanted for Christmas was a piano. They don’t live someplace where she could have a piano. She came in the day that keyboard was brought in and was able to give her daughter exactly what she asked for. She left in tears because it meant so much that she was able to give her daughter a Santa gift.”

The store also had a Barbie dollhouse that they set up in the window last year.

“The little girl only wanted a Barbie house. They came in probably an hour after we got it all set up in the window. The mom and dad were in tears because they got to give their daughter exactly what she wanted,” Angela said. “Things like that make me happy.”

Angela, who is a dispatcher for the Rush County Sheriff’s Office, said “People might take advantage, but I don’t care if they do because for those other people like those two couples, that is what matters most to me.”

The store will accept donations until Dec. 18. You can drop items off at the store at Big Creek Crossing when it is open. You can also arrange for pickup through the store’s Facebook page.

The store is always in need of gifts for teen girls and boys, especially boys 8 and older. Angela said she often uses monetary donations to purchase items for boys.

If you wish to volunteer at the store, you can sign up for a time slot on the store’s Facebook page. Angela likes to have at least two volunteers in the store at a time.

Items that are not given away during the holiday are distributed to other charitable organizations, including the ARC Thrift Store or the Mary Elizabeth Maternity Home. Stuffed animals go to the Rush County Sheriff’s Office and EMS to be given to children who have contact with law enforcement. Some items are stored until the following year.

Horn’s goal for 2019 is to apply for nonprofit status for the store. All the funds for the store are currently going back into operations and gifts. There will be a collection jar in the store this holiday to raise at least $400 that is needed for the store’s nonprofit start-up.

Corrected Sunday, Dec. 2 for county where Angela Horn works as a dispatcher to Rush County.