Giving Circle moving across South Deerfield common, plans to add massage facility - GazetteNET

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SOUTH DEERFIELD — If you’ve ever wanted to get a low-cost jacket and a massage under the same roof, the Giving Circle Thrift Shop’s soon-to-be new location may become your dream come true.

A program of The Care Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that aids direct-care workers, Giving Circle is moving across the South Deerfield Town Common to the former Deerfield Arts Bank at 3 Sugarloaf St., with hopes of opening by March 1. That is the day the shop’s one-year lease at expires at 55B North Main St.

Founder and Executive Director Sue Pratt said direct-care workers, who do a great deal of strenuous household chores and often move immobile clients from one spot to another, have a higher injury rate than people in most other professions, and a licensed massage facility would be a way to treat their bodies. Pratt said the massage facility would be open to anyone, though direct-care workers would enjoy a discount just as they do at the thrift shop. She said the store discount is 20 percent and will hopefully be higher at the massage facility.

“We’re still in the wishing-that-it-goes-well stage,” she said.

Direct-care workers include personal care assistants, caregivers and home health or personal care aides.

Pratt and employee Shane Saunders said the facility, which will be in a room separate from the thrift shop, will house massage therapists and massage chairs. They said The Care Collaborative will accept community donations and will likely ask people who employ direct-care workers to contribute. Profits from the store will also go toward financing the massage facility, which Pratt said she believes will improve the recruitment and retention of direct-care workers, primarily those who care for the elderly.

“If you’re working for $12 an hour and you hurt yourself and you have to be out of work, you’re going to lose your apartment,” she said. “It’s hard work. It’s underappreciated, underpaid, but people really do feel called to do the work.”

Pratt opened Giving Circle in April 2018, having started The Care Collaborative (known as the Tripp Memorial Foundation until last year) in 2001. In addition to her and Saunders, there are two other part-time employees and two volunteers.

“When we opened we knew that (55B North Main St.) would probably be a temporary spot, because our fondest wish was that we’d outgrow it, and we have,” said Pratt. “Donations have been spectacular. The community has been very supportive.

“Everything you see — and I’m talking about the racks and the cash register, everything — is donated. You name it, everything,” she added. “Because we opened with a great idea and not a lot of resources.”

Items at the thrift shop include clothes, books, toys, board games, shoes, costume jewelry and vinyl records.

She explained the former Arts Bank building has more space for necessities such as storage. She also said there are plans to make the bathroom fully handicapped accessible.

Pratt, who lives in Shelburne Falls, said Deerfield is the perfect location for Giving Circle because it sits between the hearts of Franklin and Hampshire counties.

She said The Care Collaborative has for 14 years partnered with Greenfield Community College to offer home health aide and PCA courses. But, she said, enrollment has declined in recent years due to a drop in state funding for such programs, and the improvement of the economy over the past decade means people have more work options.

Information about how to volunteer, become a caregiver member, or donate items or money to The Care Collaborative can be found at www.thecarecollaborative.org.

Giving Circle’s number is 413-350-5910 and its email address is givingcirclethrift@gmail.com. It has Facebook and Instagram pages. The store’s hours will not change at the new location. The store is closed on Mondays.


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