New to You

On Main Street in the small central Alberta town of Three Hills, New to You operates as a thrift shop under the umbrella of RCM Flourish, the operating name of Rehoboth Christian Ministries, a Christian nonprofit that has spent years supporting Albertans living with disabilities. RCM Flourish runs four core program areas, residential services, vocational services, supported independent living, and respite care, employing roughly 550 staff members who serve about 235 clients across the province, and this Three Hills thrift store is folded into that broader vocational services mission, giving program participants real retail work experience while raising funds and diverting usable goods from the local landfill. Shoppers who walk through the door find a rotating mix of donated clothing for men, women, and children, toys and games for younger shoppers, and furniture pieces ranging from small side tables to larger case goods, all priced to move quickly and make room for the next wave of community donations. Because inventory arrives entirely from local giving, no two visits look alike, and regulars in Kneehill County have learned to check back often rather than wait for a single big haul. For a town the size of Three Hills, having a full second hand retail storefront on the main commercial strip is itself notable. It means residents do not need to drive to Calgary, Red Deer, or Olds to find secondhand household basics, and it means every purchase made locally reinforces a ministry whose primary work happens elsewhere, in group homes and independent living apartments most customers will never see. The store can be reached by phone at 403-443-2345, and anyone wanting a firmer sense of current hours or the days donation needs is encouraged to call ahead, since a small town thrift operation staffed partly through a vocational support program can see its schedule shift with client scheduling and seasonal demand. What sets New to You apart from a typical secular resale shop is that every dollar spent there loops back into RCM Flourish’s disability services network rather than into a private owners margin or a distant corporate parent, so the transaction a shopper makes at the counter functions as a small act of community investment. That distinction matters for shoppers trying to decide where their secondhand dollars do the most good, since a thrift purchase here supports Alberta based programming for people with disabilities rather than a national retail chain. The shops presence within the RCM Flourish services directory, rather than as a stand alone commercial listing, also signals that staffing and hours can be tied to the rhythms of the ministry’s broader calendar, including holidays observed across its residential and vocational sites. Anyone hunting for affordable clothing, toys, or furniture in Kneehill County, while also wanting their spending to have a documented charitable destination, will find New to You in Three Hills fits that need squarely. Its mix of everyday secondhand goods and disability services funding makes it a rare combination for a town this size. New to You in Three Hills is a Main Street thrift store that channels its proceeds directly into RCM Flourish’s disability support programs across Alberta.