By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Clara Korbe smiles and chats as she sorts her large bin of cast off-Christmas ornaments.
Korbe of Hays works diligently beside the Arc Thrift's younger volunteers, preferring to stand despite aging legs.
She stops briefly to mull over a bright red wicker slay before reaching for a price sticker. She has her work station set up just so, her price stickers all in order. Her macular degeneration makes it difficult to see the dollars and cents these days.
"They know not to mess with Clarie's spot. I guess I didn't realize that I was that mean," she said, giving an ornery giggle.
Clarie, as she is affectionately know at the Arc Thrift, is celebrating her 50th year at the Arc as a volunteer, soon to start her 51st year. Her first day as a volunteer was the day after Labor Day 1970. This year, it falls on her birthday, Sept. 8. She will be 85.
Claire first started volunteering at the Arc as a means to clothe her large family — seven children. When she started, the Arc would allow volunteers to take home clothing for a small donation every month.
"Back then, I was very poor," she said.
Clarie also had ties to two of the founders of the ARC, Barney and Clem Hammerschmidt. Clarie's nephew, her sister Barney's son, Terry, has a developmental disability.
Terry also volunteered for years at the Arc, but was forced to stop after an ankle injury.
Clarie's family needed the clothes, but she soon found the Arc was a safe place to meet people and socialize. She said she had spent most of her younger years at home with her children and was very shy.
Coming to the Arc was almost like therapy for her, she said.
"I talk a lot now. I can go up to a stranger and tell them my life story," she said.
Most of her friends are Arc volunteers. She also served a stint on the ARC board. The day the Hays Post visited, three of her daughters were also helping sort donated items in the Arc's backroom.
The Arc has changed during Clarie's tenure, moving locations twice. The Arc Thrift was located where the Ellis County Administrative Center is now on Main Street and then on 11th Street before moving to its current location at 600 Main in 2015.
The first facilities were small with only a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling to sort clothes by.
Clarie said the way the society treats people who have disabilities has changed a lot as well.
Her aunt who was disabled stayed at home. She did not have an opportunity to go to school or socialize with other people. After her grandmother died, her aunt spent a short time in a group home where she was allowed to join in community activities.
She said she felt badly that her aunt had not had the opportunities like those offered by the Arc of the Central Plains today.
"Back then, they didn't do much for them," Clarie said. "I always wished she could have had a better life."
Clarie also has a granddaughter with a disability as well as a 1-year-old great-granddaughter with Down Syndrome. She smiled, "She's a card."
Clarie said she thinks the Arc Thrift Store helps people be more aware of people who have disabilities. The Arc also helps support activities for individuals who have developmental and intellectual disabilities in the community.
Until about nine years ago, Clarie only volunteered on Tuesdays. She had other jobs, and ran a bar and grill for a time. Tuesday was her day off, so that was her day at the Arc.
A few years ago, the Arc was short of help, so she bumped her hours to three days a week. However, her legs are not what the used to be. She needs time to rest in between her work days, so she is back down to two days a week, half days on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Although she has volunteered in all aspects of the shop, Clarie has become a Christmas specialist in recent years. She sorts most of the Christmas items that arrive.
Some of the choice items she sets aside for the Arc's Festival of Trees fundraising project. She has also accumulated a room full of Santas for herself.
"I don't get tired of it," she said. "I love Christmas."
Another of her prized Thrift finds was a painting of a girl sitting in a wicker chair at the beach. She also found a gold frame for the painting at the Arc.
"My granddaughter loved that. She thought that was me," Clarie said. "I told her when I pass on, that will be yours."
Her vest is decorated with pins that she has collected over the years — an enamel frog, a rhinestone angel, a cross made of tiny nails, a lady bug along with a 30-year service pin from the Arc.
She said she has traveled the world and back in time through books donated to the Arc. Reading is more difficult now with her macular degeneration. However, she said she used to like to romance novels.
"Some people thought some romance books were not nice," she said. "You just skip over that stuff. Once you've read it once, it's old stuff."
Since she can't read well anymore, she's shifted to politics, and is a loyal viewer of Fox News. She has to hash it all out with her sons from time to time. Sometimes the family discussions get a little bit loud.
The Arc also is the source for her with her canning supplies. She still tends a raised garden at her Hays home. She canned 100 pints of salsa last summer — none of which she can eat because she is allergic to the coriander in the sauce. She gave it all away.
Clarie said she continues to be surprised by the community's generosity.
"It's amazing the new stuff that people give away," she said, "and how much everybody has, especially the young people with the toys. It's horrific. They've always been generous. The community has been really good that way."
Kathy McAdoo, Arc executive director, said Claire service has been nothing short of amazing.
Clarie chimed in, "It was nothing. It was one day a week. It got me out of the house."
McAdoo continued, "It's amazing dedication. It's so unusual. I've never met anyone like Clarie. I have never met anyone that dedicated, and she is just so fun. I love it when she's here. I love talking to her."
Clarie said she is looking forward to starting her 51st year at the ARC on Sept. 8. She said she has no plans of slowing down or quitting any time soon.
"Why give up now?" she said. "If something happens that I can't, then I will be miserable. I will work as long as I can. I can still do a lot."