Editor’s note: Second in a series about gratitude for the month of November.
Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette Content Editor
Dublin citizens in need of clothing and home goods have always been grateful for Kingdom Threads, an outreach program of First Baptist Church.
Kingdom Threads is equally grateful for longtime volunteer Wilma Earles, who recently left the outreach after 11 years.
“Wilma has been a faithful servant for many years. Her dedication and compassion are an inspiration to many. Her love for the Lord is evident in her service in more ways than can be numbered,” FBC Pastor Weldon Branham said.
For those unfamiliar with Kingdom Threads, the outreach program takes donated clothes and other items and gives them to those in need at no cost. The building, located near First Baptist Church of Dublin, is open each Wednesday 9 a.m. to noon.
“People give us stuff and we are able to give it away,” Wilma explained.
Wilma began volunteering with her daughter who asked her to join after two foster boys returned home and she needed to adjust to having the kids gone.
Though her daughter’s life readjusted and her time filled again, Wilma saw the need and continued to volunteer.
“It has been the joy of my life,” she said. “Sometimes God puts you in the right place at the right time.”
Throughout her life, Wilma had been involved with large sales for school activities and even hosted many garage sales. She admits looking back that God was preparing her for working at Kingdom Threads.
Originally, Kingdom Threads only provided clothing, but when a member of her Sunday School class, Doris Prim, approached her with half a house full of furniture to give away after an estate sale, Wilma knew they couldn’t pass up that opportunity.
They then had to establish a place to store it and utilized the Old Christian Church until recently when it was torn down.
After furniture was brought into the program, they began to give away all kinds of things, letting people take as much as they need.
“It’s so fun because you never know what people are going to donate,” she said. “We get new and used stuff.”
Currently, there is a room for men’s items, a room for women’s items and a couple of rooms for children’s items.
Kingdom Threads has also acted as a way for Wilma to connect with others in prayer.
“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness,” Psalm 69:13 says.
Each day, volunteers would read a verse of scripture and then pray.
“I continued to do it each and every day because that is where my heart is,” Wilma said.
One highlight of her time with Kingdom Threads was simply sitting with a group of volunteers who spoke Spanish. Since Kingdom Threads makes it a priority to have at least one volunteer available who speaks Spanish due to Dublin’s demographics, Wilma was able to pick up at least a handful of Spanish words throughout the years. But the laughter and camaraderie didn’t need translating.
“I’m going to miss that, it’s the camaraderie even if I didn’t speak the language. We would laugh together,” she said.
Since retiring from the position to be with her family, she admits she misses it.
“It was really God’s blessing to be there,” she said.
Her daughter-in-law, Velvet Earles is continuing the tradition and volunteering at Kingdom Threads.