AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – It’s a place you may have shopped at without even realizing you’re helping others with each purchase or donation.

Catholic Social Services Thrift Store has been around for 35 years as a way to support those in need throughout the CSRA.

They’re finding solutions in how they can help even more people through a new large building they just moved into.

Catholic Social Services is a non-profit organization that has been around since 1969.

They’re mission is to help those in need, and they’re able to do that through their thrift store.

“We have a food pantry,” said Mary Richardson, executive director for Catholic Social Services. “We provide personal hygiene products, we help people who are uninsured pay their prescription medications, low income clinic co-pays. We do a lot of things for the community, so the thrift store was started to fund what we do at the outreach office.”

The Thrift store was created in 1990, and Richardson says it’s been successful.

That’s why they moved into a larger outreach building 10 minutes down the road.

“We moved into there so we could have more storage room, order more food and eventually have more clients to serve, so we are expanding,” said Richardson.

Another way they’re giving back is by hosting a take what you need day.

“We decided we would like to help the community and have a day once month, once every couple months, it depends on what our overflow is where we can just give it to people in need,” said Philomena Mooney, manager of Catholic Social Services Thrift Store. “There is no requirement; if you are in need, it’s between you and the big guy.”

Mooney says what they do is all about serving others.

“You can find a good item for a good price and in return you’re helping the community so it’s really the best form of recycling,” said Mooney.

Again, proceeds from the thrift store fund the emergency assistance they provide to families.

Currently, they help around 150 households a week – something they’re looking to expand.

As for the take what you need day, that’s Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the thrift store off Wrightsboro Road.

You’ll just line up on the patio and get what you need for free.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Trump administration is planning to cut about 72,000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

With a two-campus hospital in Augusta and facilities in outlying counties, the agency is a major employer in the CSRA – although it’s unclear right now how the cuts will affect local employees or the countless veterans who have retired here.

The agency employs about 2,700 people across the VA Augusta health system, which includes the two medical centers in Augusta and clinics in Athens, Aiken and Statesboro.

VA Secretary Doug Collins, a former Georgia congressman, said the agency is aiming to cut the jobs as part of its “department-wide review” that is being carried out in response to President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and Workforce Optimization initiative.

“This will be a thorough and thoughtful review based on input from career VA employees, senior executives, as well as the top VA leaders,” Collins said. “Our goal is to reduce VA employment levels to 2019-end strength numbers – roughly 398,000 employees from our current level of approximately 470,000 employees. Now that’s an 15% decrease. We’re going to accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries.

Collins also said that the agency’s biggest problem is being inefficient and said the administration “is finally going to give the veterans what they want.”

“Now we regret anyone who loses their job. And it’s extraordinarily difficult for me, especially as a VA leader and your secretary, to make these types of decisions. But the federal government does not exist to employ people. It exists to serve people,” he said.

Democrats on Capitol Hill spoke out against the newly announced plans and prior Department of Government Efficiency cuts on Wednesday, saying many veterans are being hurt by them.

“The GOP is throwing our veterans under the bus, raising their prices, cutting their health care, destroying their livelihoods,” said Rep. Katherine Clark, (D-MA).

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“1 in 4 federal employees are veterans. So when the Trump administration indiscriminately, and in many cases brazenly, illegally fires federal employees, that has a disproportionate effect on our nation’s veterans,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA).

Veterans themselves have also been expressing concerns about DOGE cuts prior to Wednesday’s announcement like former VA employee Michael Slater, who lost his job last month.

“It’s so important that we maintain the level of service that we have. We’re already understaffed across the entire VA,” he said.

Slater spoke to members of the press in Washington just before President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday. He was invited as a guest of Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA).

“So these cuts are only going to hinder the care that veterans can receive and put more and more of them at risk on a daily basis,” said Slater.

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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A man has been arrested in relation to a stalking incident at Diamond Lakes, according to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

Tyrone Bernard Gaynor Jr., 31, of the 3700 block of Farrington Drive, was arrested on Wednesday, according to investigators.

This week, the sheriff’s office says reports have surfaced on social media regarding a man following women at an uncomfortable distance.

After a Facebook post containing a photo of the individual was shared, the Richmond County Sherriff’s Office Road Patrol and Criminal Investigations Division started an investigation and increased the number of deputies in the area, according to a press release.

Around 12:53 p.m. on Wednesday, Gaynor was found on the Diamond Lakes walking track and brought in for further investigation.

A victim from a prior incident that occurred on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. confirmed to deputies that she had taken the original Facebook photo.

Following the investigation, Gaynor was arrested and charged with misdemeanor stalking, according to investigators.

The sheriff’s office says it urges anyone who may have been followed, harassed or has additional information or video footage related to this case or other incidents to contact it’s Criminal Investigations Division at 706-821-1000, send a message via Facebook Messenger, or email PIO@AugustaGA.gov.

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