T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Winston and Bethany Davies, along with their three children Thea, Kenneth and Polly Rose, pose for a photo outside of the Second Chance Thrift Store on Monday afternoon. Winston is the national director at Jonathan’s Child Care Ministries in his home country of Sierra Leone, and the store directly supports Jonathan’s House Ministries with its operations.

Winston Davies and his wife Bethany have made it their life’s mission to help youngsters in Sierra Leone, the country where they reside with their three kids — he is the director of Jonathan’s Child Care (JCC) School and Family Support Center in the city of Bo, and she is the founder of the organization Lilomi, a team of people from the United Kingdom who are working to improve the lives of children. On Monday afternoon, they made their first trip to the United States and stopped at Second Chance Thrift Store in Marshalltown, which is mostly run by volunteers and directly supports the work of JCC halfway across the globe.

Winston spent about a year working for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) during the Ebola crisis, but he ultimately decided it was difficult to make an impact with all of the politics involved. Wanting to shift his focus to something more fulfilling, he recalled his previous experience volunteering with children and spoke to the founder of Second Chance and Jonathan House Ministries, Roger Hatch, about JCC and eventually started working there.

Since arriving in the U.S. for the first time ever, the family has visited a few churches in the area such as Bethel Grove and New City to explain their mission. Winston said one of his biggest goals is to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates in Sierra Leone.

The family’s next stop will be in Seattle to meet the board of an organization that became aware of JCC’s work and hopes to partner with them to solve some of their problems. But they’ll always remember Marshalltown and the indelible mark the community has already left on them.

“We have been blown away by the people of Marshalltown and just their generosity, how welcoming they’ve been, it’s just incredible. It really sort of completes the circle,” Bethany said. “To see the love and dedication of all the volunteers. These people are not paid. There’s one or two paid staff that coordinate it, but most of the people here just give their time freely and it’s just so overly — the people that come in and support the store, it’s been really heartwarming.”

Winston was equally effusive in his praise.

“I really wish people understood that they do far more on this side. We just happen to be on the opposite end of things, and they make a big deal about what we do. But we see a big deal in what they do,” he said. “At the end of the day, if this didn’t happen, we’d be very, very limited in what we can do.”

Second Chance is located at 230 S. 3rd Ave. To learn more about the store, visit https://www.facebook.com/2ndchanceon3rd/, and for more information on Jonathan’s House, visit https://jonathanshouseintl.org/.