PORT JERVIS, NY — The store was only closed for 10 business days, but if you go by the smiles on customers’ faces when it reopened on September 8, it might have been gone 10 months. People were glad the Salvation Army thrift store was back.

Of course, so were the members of the corps.

“We just had a great response,” said Lt. Nereus Mogaria, the co-leader of the Port Jervis corps of the Salvation Army. Customers “are so glad we’re open again.”

It was only closed for some late-summer tidying up, and a chance to do the kind of deep clean that houses and stores should all have. The shop needed renovating, he said. The floors were spruced up. The volunteers organized everything.

Lowe’s, the home-improvement store, donated materials and labor, as did Jag Floor Covering, according to a press release.

No thrift shop is just a thrift shop, and for the Salvation Army, “the thrift shop is a mission,” said Mogaria, who co-leads the Port Jervis corps with his wife, Lt. Valentina Agudelo. “Ours first opened in the church… we get to serve the community.”

The thrift shop’s reason for existence, and the greater mission of the Port Jervis corps, is to care for the tri-state area. “Sussex County, Matamoras, Milford; we are here for them” as well, he said.

Nobody is turned down. If help is needed that is not something the corps can provide, then the right resources are found.

Mogaria took a few minutes out of his busy day to explain what the Salvation Army is.

“The Salvation Army is an international movement,” Mogaria said. “It’s a charitable, nonprofit organization… meeting all human needs without discrimination.”

The corps provides rental assistance and helps those in need pay for utilities. It feeds the hungry. “We have a food pantry and a soup kitchen,” Mogaria said. They’re busy most of the year, but especially so “as it gets closer to winter.”

And, of course, as it has always been, the Salvation Army is a religious organization.

“We have Bible study [and] church services on Sundays… that’s our core service.”

The thrift shop stays busy. “People drop off clothes and we get them ready for sale,” Mogaria said. He praised the work of the shop manager and the many volunteers who keep it going.

Come winter, much is needed.

“Some clients ask for winter clothes, and we give out vouchers [for the shop],” he said. Homes burn down, leaving people destitute, and the corps steps up to help.

The most important point about the thrift shop? One hundred percent of every purchase made goes back into the area, Mogaria said.

“We’re here to serve the community,” he said. “And we’re thankful for… donations. We’re blessed by the community; they do so much for us.”

The Salvation Army thrift shop is located at 130 Pike St. The soup kitchen and community center can be found at 99 Ball St.

For more information about the Salvation Army, its church services and its mission, call the corps at 845/856-3214, or find it on Facebook at portjervissalvationarmy. To learn more about the thrift shop, visit its Facebook page at salarmypjthrift.