The Palmer Thrift store, located on Highway 12, has some of the best re-purchased items in town, but many of its customers might not know 100 percent of the proceeds go directly to Palmer Home for Children in Columbus.
Palmer Home for Children was founded in 1895 and provides a home and a family-structured environment for children who normally would not have a desirable home environment.
The campus currently has six cottages with a host parent in each.
They also have had a separate Hernando campus for the past 12 years that hosts around 30 kids. 
Katherine Hewlett, director of marketing and communication, said most of the children who come to stay at the campus are privately placed.
“Most children are placed here by grandparents who can’t care for them either through financial or health reasons or their parents can’t take care of them because they are either incarcerated or have drug or alcohol problems,” she said.
The Palmer Home, which houses 60 children ranging anywhere from two years old to college-age young adults, not only provides a safe home environment, but is also an advocate for education. 
They continue to support a child three months after his or her furthest point of education.
“We had a student who graduated with his MBA from Ole Miss back in May. He recently moved to Atlanta and got a job so he was a Palmer’s child until he finished his master’s degree,” Hewlett said. “We also have a student who is in nursing school and she came to us when she was eight or nine years old.”
Palmer Home also hosts a therapeutic horse-riding program that services special needs members of the community. 
“It helps them with not only emotional and behavior problems, but it also helps out kids on the autistic spectrum,” Hewlett said.
The program is free, and the Palmer Home children often help out with the services to give back to the community and to see the joy on another child’s face from getting to ride the horses.
“We really try to meet the full spectrum needs of a child between emotional, spiritual, physical and educational needs,” Hewlett said.
Although Palmer Home goes through many lengths to care for the children and their community, only 30 percent of their income is privately funded, leaving them to raise 70 percent on their own. 
“Thankfully, the thrift stores provide about 17 percent of our annual budget so when you buy things at the thrift store, it supports our children and we then are able to take that money and provide for them,” Hewlett said.
Mike Montgomery, district manager who has been working for Palmer Home for 13 years and overseeing it for six years, said over 85 to 90 percent of the store’s stocked items come from donations.
He said the store significantly discounts clothing items and accommodates those who wish to donate clothes or furniture.
“We offer 30 to 60 percent off all of our clothing and that’s for everyday. If you want to donate your items, we are open Monday through Saturday, 9-5 p.m.,” Montgomery said. “We also offer standard pick-up delivery for larger items.”
Palmer Home mails around five items per year to people who make donations to the store, including magazines and a calendar showing photographs of some of the children who live at the home.
“Even if you donated a T-shirt or whatever you will get a magazine so that you know that when you donated, you supported Palmer Home,” Hewlett said.
The store also sells poinsettias in the winter and flowers in the spring. 
Volunteers are always needed to work in the greenhouse, the horse program, tutoring or even to play with the kids when they come home from school in the afternoon. 
“We hope to service more children in the future and hope we can help twice as many,” Hewlett said. “If we could just help a few more every day and provide a home for them so that when they grow up, they can provide a home for their children and not perpetuate the cycle they grew up in.”
For more information about the Palmer Home Thrift Store and the Palmer Home in Columbus, visit palmerhome.org.