One of the early garage sales that started Angels' Attic down the path of selling items to fund worldwide mission efforts. In the foreground is one of our biggest helpers -- Linda Evans' grandson, Evan.

About Us

Pat Quirin, Judith Streng (both in back row at left) and other women from their church visit Hogar Beulah in Costa Rica.

It all started when Judith Streng, who owns Hogar Beulah (a home of refuge for girls in Costa Rica), invited a group of women from our church to go to Costa Rica on a mission trip. Ten women collected clothing and took it to various places of poverty in Costa Rica.

The most impactful thing we visited was called La Carpio, a gravel quarry carved out of the side of the mountain where 30,000 refugees live from Nicaragua & El Salvador. If anyone has ever seen the sight of this, you know it will impact you forever. When we returned from the trip, I decided that I couldn't call myself a Christian and not try and help these people. In trying to figure out what I could do to help, I knew that I had always been good at garage sales. So, I drew up flyers and took them around to neighborhood garage sales asking for their leftover merchandise to help in the mission efforts of Costa Rica associated with our church, White's Chapel Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas.

Pat's garage is used as part of the garage sale!

My neighbor (Warnie Meisetschleager) had a truck, as did my good friend Linda Evans. My husband and I, along with Warnie and Linda would go around to all these garage sales on Sunday afternoon and pick up load after load of merchandise. Once our 3-car garage was stacked completely to the ceiling, we would start pricing, sorting, cleaning, and getting things ready to sell. Several ladies at the church volunteered and spent countless hours going through every single item. In 2 years, we made enough to contribute substantially to several missions around the world. God just kept blessing us and blessing us, and the women volunteers kept growing and growing.

Pat Quirin & Linda Evans with the Pastor team at White's Chapel Methodist Church (and Linda's grandson Evan, who helped considerably at the early garage sales).

It was around this time that I spoke to our pastor at church about setting up a resale shop. All of our volunteers are over 50 years old (2 are even 92!), and we were out in 100+ degree heat hauling large items and it was getting physically exhausting. Plus, God had blessed us with so much merchandise that we felt we could support a resale shop. After the last sale, we were storing all the merchandise in an 18' warehouse, and the warehouse was full! This was going to be the merchandise with which we were to open the resale shop, and then Hurricane Katrina hit. 750 people from the New Orleans area were flown into the local Hilton, and local churches stepped up to help these hurting families. We quickly decided that it was more important to give all the merchandise to the families who had lost everything than to open the resale shop. The women of Angels' Attic sponsored 19 families and, within 3 months, we had donated or purchased every single item that these families would need in setting up new households (every fork, dish, toy, shoe, etc.). By the time this was over, we had 2 WAREHOUSES FULL OF MERCHANDISE. This was when we knew without a doubt that God was behind this effort and He showed us that you cannot outgive Him!

Pat Quirin & Linda Evans on the opening day of Angels' Attic, celebrating a lot of hard work by a lot of people!

During the time of helping the Katrina families, coincidentally (or not!), I had just gotten a computer at home, and suddenly I started receiving emails from all over expressing an interest to help us. Offers like "I'm a fireman and I have a truck….what can I do to help" started pouring in. Every single thing we needed started showing up at precisely the right time. I would be on the phone expressing a need to someone, and the doorbell would ring with exactly what I needed. God's participation and anointing was a humbling experience. I would lay in my bed and cry for hours because of God's supernatural provision of meeting every single need all along the way. I felt that this was God's "green flag" of supporting the move forward with the resale shop.

We found the resale space and once again God blessed every move we made. If we needed fixtures, they were provided to us. If we needed display shelves, God would deliver an unbelievable deal on the perfect items. It just went on and on….

We worried at first that we might sell all of our merchandise and then what would we do? But the more we sold, the more would come in. There were times when we were standing in 6' of merchandise (in our back parking lot) sorting through truckload after truckload. God just keeps providing us with more opportunities to sell, thus providing more opportunities to give. And He uses the store as a special ministry, sometimes even more than the purpose of raising money for mission efforts. He has put women in place here that are bible-believing, compassionate, spirit-filled followers of Jesus Christ. I believe that people visit our store sometimes just to get a word of encouragement or prayer with one of our many women. God has delivered many miracles through the prayers of the women who work here and visit here.

This past year, we were hoping to raise as much as we did during the initial garage sales, but God had other plans! We raised so much more than we anticipated that we were able to build an entire community center in Cambodia and fund a feeding program there for several years. See "Who We Support" for more information on the projects that we've partnered with for furthering God's kingdom.

Pat & Judith Streng having a little fun at the garage sale!

While I certainly know that God is the founder and president of this store, I also acknowledge that we could not have done any of this without the generous donations of people all over this area, and the unending sacrifice that our volunteers have given both in time, money, physical exhaustion, etc. You will never know how much I appreciate all of you!