I believe that most of what my generation knows about the history of the Church of the Covenant--and what future generations will learn--is owed to the ladies of the Covenant Cache.

The countless grants they have made from the thousands of dollars they raise each year included hefty portions of the costs of establishing the archives in the mid 1990s and publishing Church with a Conscience: A History of Cleveland Church of the Covenant 1844-1995 and The Covenant Proclaims: The Message of the Church of the Covenant Continues (2004).

The Cache's own history, now thirty years in the making, is overdue for some attention.

In the late summer of 1976, a brave, forward-thinking band of Covenant women, led by the late Mrs. Philip Smead (Margaret) Bird, formed a Thrift Shop Committee as “a means of sharing used clothing of church members and friends with persons in the neighborhood of the church who need low-cost clothing” and as "a source of additional monies for the work of the church."

The first annual report to include a summary of the Cache's activities, the report for 1977-78, tells that around forty people were regularly involved in the pricing, selling, and arranging of goods, and had netted $13,000 since opening for business. These earnings financed the refinishing of the sanctuary floor and installation of a new sound system. Bear in mind that the marketing tactics included such rash ideas as "bag sales"--all you could put in a bag for $1 and you can begin to envision the volume of merchandise moved. (I am truly sorry to have missed those bag days as a grad student, although I was a loyal customer.)

The extraordinary benefits of this work in terms of financial support of our church and good will in the community--to say nothing of the thrill of a bargain--were observed in worship on Sunday, September 24, 2006. A reception celebrating the Cache followed.

--D.H., Archivist
September, 2006

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