Hope Ministries – Hope Bargain and Community Outreach Center

We’ve Expanded!

Throughout 2009, our Hope Bargain Center underwent a three-phase expansion while remaining open for business. Completed in November, our retail space is now spacious and convenient for shoppers. Brightly colored walls and a revamped layout make for an overall pleasant shopping experience. We’ve also revised our production and warehouse space to better accommodate donations and our staff and volunteers. Be sure to stop by!

About Hope Bargain Center

Hope Bargain and Community Outreach Center, located at 4950 NE 12th Avenue in Pleasant Hill, serves as our thrift store, donation and recycling center and our volunteer hub. Revenue from Hope Bargain Center supports Hope Ministries’ programs and services. So whether you’re shopping at our store or donating items that could be sold, you’re helping support our food, clothing, shelter and long-term recovery services!

Thrift store: The retail area of our Hope Bargain Center provides customers with quality low-priced clothing, books, shoes, household items, furniture and much more. All items have been donated and are priced according to industry standards.

Donation center: We are so grateful to donors who choose to place their excess and no-longer-needed items in the hands of Hope Ministries as in-kind donations. Our goal is to be good stewards of every donation. Donations are accepted during business hours and are sorted, cleaned and priced by our staff and volunteers. Some donations make their way to one of our shelter and recovery facilities, while others are placed on the shelves in our store. Either way, your donation—whether given away free or sold—helps us help the homeless!

Recycling center: Some items, like worn-out shoes or raggedy clothes, cannot be used by the men, women and children we serve, nor can they be sold in our store. Instead, we “recycle” these donations by baling and selling them to companies who can use them. For instance, one company is able to use the rubber soles of shoes, while others send bales of clothing to third-world countries. Dollars generated by the sale of unusable, recyclable items cycle right back into our ministry, helping the homeless and hungry in Des Moines.

Volunteer hub: More than 1,500 volunteers cycle through Hope Ministries each year! Hope Bargain Center is the “hub” for many of those volunteers. Volunteers help with everything from sorting donations to hanging clothes to pricing. Both individuals and volunteers groups are welcome at Hope Bargain Center. We couldn’t do what we do at Hope Bargain Center without our wonderful volunteers!

Business and Donation Hours

Hope Bargain and Community Outreach Center is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We are closed on Sunday and Monday.

Donations of clothing and other items can be dropped off during business hours. For staff convenience, we stop taking donations one hour before closing. Donation hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

Many people call to ask us to pick up their donation. We rely mainly on donors to bring their in-kind donations to our Hope Bargain Center. Donations may also be dropped off at our Bethel Mission facility (1310 6th Avenue, Des Moines) or our Door of Faith facility (6701 SW 9th, Des Moines) from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Currently, our donation pick-up service is limited to once a week on Wednesdays and is limited to furniture and appliances.

Volunteering at Hope Bargain Center

Thank you!! The staff at Hope Bargain Center were so nice to work with, and we were happy to help them sort, price, hang clothes, clean and unload trailers! This was our second visit to volunteer! We encourage other youth groups or adult church groups, or if you are interested in helping or just volunteering. Hope Ministries has been the best to worth with!!!

Our Hope Bargain Center is staffed by three full-time employees and one part-time employee. We greatly rely on volunteers to help run our store! Youth groups, church small groups, civic and service groups and employee groups are all welcome. Individual and group volunteers can schedule a one-time service project or a regular weekly or monthly commitment.

Youth groups: We have a special group volunteer opportunity for church youth groups on Wednesday evenings. Our growing number of Wednesday night volunteers have become friends and say they look forward to their weekly time together. Groups come from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. If your youth group is interested in scheduling a Wednesday evening, feel free to fill out our online group volunteer registration form or call (515) 265-7272.

Garage sale vs. donating to Hope Bargain Center

Thinking about holding a garage sale, but reluctant to go to all the work? If so, you may want to consider simply donating your items to Hope Bargain Center, where you know they’ll be put to good use helping the homeless and low-income individuals and families in our community.

Or, if you do hold a garage sale, you’re welcome to donate your unsold items to us once your sale has ended. We will issue you an in-kind receipt that can be used as a charitable donation deduction on your in-kind receipt.

We’ve also seen more and more families and church groups choose to sponsor a garage sale with proceeds going to Hope Ministries. It’s a fun way to get those closets cleaned and in turn, support a ministry meeting the needs of men, women and children here in central Iowa.

King’s Closet Program and free clothing

Through our King’s Closet program, we partner with area agencies and churches to meet the clothing needs of low-income individuals and families in our community. People can receive vouchers for FREE clothing from our partnering agencies and churches, then bring those vouchers to our Hope Bargain Center and shop for clothing. To learn more about our King’s Closet program, click here.

We also give away free clothing at our Bethel Mission facility clothes closet. Homeless men at Bethel Mission and our Door of Faith recovery center have access to our clothes closet at no cost. In fact, any man who knocks on our door who needs clothing—regardless of whether or not they’re staying in our shelter—can take advantage of our free clothes closet at Bethel Mission.

In addition, we provide vouchers to women and children at Hope Family Center, so they can receive clothing from our Hope Bargain Center.

Also, we have a separate section of our warehouse designated for coats and other winter wear. Items in this section are collected through the annual “One Warm Coat” drive.

These items are set aside specifically for our Winter Wear Giveaway and are never sold.

Map and directions

Hope Bargain and Community Outreach Center is located at 4950 NE 12th Avenue in Pleasant Hill. NE 12th Avenue used to be named Old E. University and runs parallel to E. University one block north.