Woodstock’s Outreach Depot allows those in need to shop with dignity – and it’s all free

The new “Warp Corps Woodstock Outreach Depot” is a place where low-income and unhoused people can preserve their humanity and dignity while receiving the clothing and household items they need for free, depot facilitators said.

Located inside the station at 90 W. Church St., the depot has seen several people come through its doors since opening Monday. The depot is described as an “issue point” where everything is free.

Warp Corps founder and Executive Director Rob Mutert partnered on the depot with MBI’s retired owner Tom Wilson, who also operates the MBI Cares philanthropy and leases the Woodstock train station.

The nonprofit Warp Corps is located on the historic Woodstock Square.

With the help of Andrew Turner, director of homeless/street outreach at Warp Corps, the depot has become a place where children and adults can “shop” for clothing, shoes, hygiene and household items, camping gear and nonperishable food – even toys – for free.

The facilitators said all people should be treated with dignity, no matter their income or lack of. They thanked the city of Woodstock for its support in this venture.

The depot, open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, is there to help ensure that those who need something, whatever it may be, can get it, Mutert said. The depot is an expansion of the outreach work that Mutert, Turner and others from Warp Corps have been doing for unhoused people since 2019. The organization also has done prevention and outreach, addressing mental health and substance use disorders, but wants to help others in need.

“The depot also is an expansion of the “strategic alliance with MBI Cares, which allowed us the opportunity to occupy the depot [Wilson] leases to expand our street outreach,” Mutert said. “We want to bring a more dignified form of service for those people who are in need. At the depot, we are attempting to create a retail environment where 100% of the items are free.”

Mutert asks the community to donate what they no longer need to keep the depot stocked. Much of the initial stock came from donations made in December, when buses of migrants were showing up unexpectedly in various communities, including Woodstock, he said.

“We are highly encouraging anybody that might be in a financial situation that needs help to come in,” Mutert said. He added there is a check-in process, people create client accounts and make appointments. Clients provide information, including what they need, so the depot can stock those items. The items are mostly “gently used,” clean and workable. Sometimes, Mutert said, they get lucky and new items are donated.

Turner said he is “most excited” about opening the group’s outreach to a broader community from “mainly our unhoused clients to a much wider demographic.”

“We want people to come in who maybe just need a couple diapers to get through the weekend [until they get paid] ... or, ‘My kid is starting school and needs a pair of shoes or a new hoodie,’” Turner said. “It doesn’t matter where you are at in life, people can just use some stuff sometimes.”

Wilson said “this is a starting point,” and he hopes to see the depot be sustainable and someday expand. Warp Corps, he said, needs to focus on building strong, capable business alliances to keep doing the work it does.

“As long as there is the will, I am sure they will find a way,” Wilson said.

The “bricks-and-mortar” location will allow people to “maintain their pride” while getting the things they need, Wilson said.

“What matters is how they feel,” Wilson said. “Let’s think about how would we want to be treated if we were in that situation.”