Crafting for Good

North Chili craft supply thrift store makes crafting affordable while raising funds for food and clean water locally, nationally and globally

By Grace R. Scism

Tucked in a corner of Towne Plaza in North Chili is a little shop chock full of crafting supplies and goodwill.

Crafting for Good, Inc., the brainchild of Sheryl Byers, takes donations of craft supplies, sells them for nominal prices and then manages to make considerable donations to organizations that provide food and clean water.

“One of my girlfriends lives in Fairport where another craft thrift store, Craft Bits and Pieces, is located and said, ‘You have to come see this. This is the coolest idea!’ and I agreed with her,” said Byers. “That’s how the idea kind of germinated and then seeing that the west side could definitely support something like that.”

Crafting for Good’s first home was the back room of a little church south of the village of Churchville, but after closing down during the pandemic and packing up everything, Byers decided that she would eventually reopen in a commercial space that would get more foot traffic.

Byers always had the idea that she wanted her thrift store to support a cause, but it wasn’t until she and her daughter, Grace, traveled to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip that she knew what that cause would be.

“One of our tasks that week was to buy groceries for a small village on a sugarcane plantation,” Byers said. “When the sugarcane is being harvested, the people have enough money to feed themselves, but when it’s not, they’re in trouble.”

In addition, the village did not have access to clean water. “It just, it really floored me. The pump on the well had been broken for 20 years, so apparently they had been going without clean water for 20 years until a local church congregation stepped up and fixed the pump for them,” said Byers.

On the plane ride home, the images of what Byers had witnessed ran through her head. “I swear, the people around me probably saw the light bulb go off over my head when I realized that was what we could do — raise money for food and clean water.”

Years ago, Byers had been advised by her pastor to do a balance between local, national and global when funding initiatives, so that is what she set out to do.

Currently, Crafting for Good, Inc. has donated $42,000 to Food Link, which mobilizes community partners to address food insecurity in Rochester and the surrounding Finger Lakes area. Nationally, they have donated $26,000 to DigDeep, an organization that works to get clean hot and cold running water to communities in Appalachia, the Navajo Nation and areas on the Texas-Mexico border. Twenty-five thousand dollars has been donated to World Central Kitchen providing fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises around the world. Lastly, $49,000 has been donated to The Water Project, Inc., to provide sub-Saharan African communities with clean water and proper sanitation.

Crafting for Good is staffed by eight regular volunteers and another six or so that volunteer for specific projects, many of whom decided to volunteer after stopping in to shop. A board of directors and any volunteers who wish to attend meet at the beginning of each quarter to decide where the money from the last quarter should go.

“So, for the second quarter this year, we gave away $15,000, which was our best quarter ever,” said Byers. “And that put us at a total of $146,000. We’re going to easily cross the $150,000 mark this next quarter.”

According to Byers, compared to the first two quarters of last year, the first two quarters of this year are up 34% in sales, with more volunteers and products coming in.

Byers receives a small stipend, but expenses are limited to rent, utilities, Wi-Fi and a few supplies.

Inventory is broken down into three categories of crafting: sewing and quilting that includes fabric, notions, tools and even sewing machines; paper crafting, such as card making, rubber stamping, scrapbooking and the trending “junk journaling,” the art of creating a personal, handcrafted journal with repurposed items; and finally handwork, such as knitting, crocheting, embroidery and spinning.

“Crafters are famously generous. So many of our knitters and crocheters right now are packing away yarn because they make hats, scarves and mittens to give away,” said Byers. “So, the idea that we can get them supplies on the cheap is a lovely thing.”

The shop also has a whole library of books on crafting, in addition to jigsaw puzzles that shoppers can take free of charge.

Byers’ vision was to be able to use part of the space to hold crafting classes, but their inventory took over to the point that she recently had to temporarily stop accepting donations. In August the shop was able to hold a fiber spinning class through the Weavers Guild of Rochester.

Byers, herself, is a crafter who enjoys spinning, knitting, quilting, and sewing clothes. She’s even made wedding dresses. “My mother put me in front of a sewing machine when I was 5,” she said.

Crafting for Good, Inc., located in Towne Plaza, 4390 Buffalo Road, North Chili, is open Wednesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information visit www.craftingforgood.xyz or follow them on Facebook at Crafting for Good or Instagram at craftingforgoodny.