Sonya Dembowski remembers the moment she decided to begin her Poppin’ Tags Free Store in West Deer.
She was driving through Coraopolis in the height of the pandemic shutdown. She remembers seeing piles of donations left outside a closed store.
Dembowski later saw on the news that because the donations were left out in the elements, they were damaged and had to be thrown out.
“It just made me sick to my stomach,” said Dembowski, 44, of Shaler. “That was it for me.”
Dembowski spent the rest of the lengthy shutdown collecting donations in her pickup truck, cleaning the offerings and storing them in a warehouse in the Creighton neighborhood of East Deer.
Once enough donations were collected, she invited people in need to grab what they needed from the warehouse for one weekend.
“We were open 10 (a.m.) to 6 (p.m.) Saturday and Sunday and just invited whoever needed to come,” she said, “and we had over 100 cars a day.”
The work only grew from there — marking the beginning of Poppin’ Tags.
In May 2021, the store found its home on Little Deer Creek Valley Road in the township’s Russellton neighborhood.
“We’re still outgrowing our space,” Dembowski said. “It’s not big enough for what we need.”
The store houses clothing, toys, household items, hygiene products and food items among other things people may need.
Only one of a couple dozen of its kind in the state, everything from clothes to toys to toiletries and small furniture is free for people in need.
Dembowski has been expanding her mission and
plans to use a $250,000 Gaming Economic Development Tourism grant to help with that effort.
“The plan with the money is to purchase the buildings (next door), expand the parking lot and create a turnaround around the building,” Dembowski said. “A lot of our customers are elderly and they cannot back (their cars) out.”
Once spring comes, Tree Pittsburgh will be planting an orchard behind the store so folks can drive through it on the way out of the store.
The store’s lighting will also be redone, along with other renovations. Dembowski said she will also install a revamped security system with new cameras.
State Rep. Jeremy Shaffer, R-Pine, was instrumental in acquiring the funds for the project. He met with Dembowski on Thursday to talk about her plans for the money.
Mama Jo’s House
Earlier this year, Dembowski learned the home located next door to Poppin’ Tags was available to rent.
Owned by the same landlord as the Poppin’ Tags building, Dembowski was able to make a deal to turn it into Mama Jo’s House, an affordable rental spot for classes, parties, tutoring and other events. The house features three furnished bedrooms also available for rental.
Named after her beloved friend and mother figure, the late Mary Jo Coll, the house represents Coll’s legacy of having an “open door policy,” Dembowski said. Coll died in 2021.
“It kind of just corresponded with our mission,” Dembowski said. “It’s to keep things low priced, accessible, easy (for people).”
About four months before its official opening in September, Ryan Eckendahl, 41, of West Deer spent nearly all of his free time redesigning and fixing the building for its opening.
Eckendahl owns Voltcraft, a local contractor business, and fell into the work easily. He rewired the entire house, fixed the lighting, added light switches, replaced floors, added fans for air flow and painted the home’s entire interior and exterior.
He said it was a big project to handle. Exposed wires hung from the ceiling and the electrical outlets need “TLC,” Eckendahl said.
“I’ve always tried giving back where I can,” Eckendahl said about offering his time and services to the project.
A portion of the grant fund will also be used to landscape the front of the home, put in parking spots and install new windows and gutters. Air conditioning and a furnace will also be put in.
Dembowski met Coll as a young girl living in Sharpsburg. Coll stepped into a motherly role for Dembowski.
“My father was an alcoholic and very abusive, and Mary Jo was the first person to ever step between my father and me,” Dembowski said. “That was the first time that anybody cared.”
As a middle-schooler, Dembowski stayed in touch with Coll after Coll moved to Lawrenceville.
“She was like the mom I never had, and she raised me in a manner that only benefited me for the rest of my life,” Dembowski said.
She said Coll is the reason she’s so passionate about getting others what they need. Affectionately nicknamed “Mama Jo” for her affinity for taking care of people, Coll left behind a legacy of building bridges between communities and people.
“She molded me into the person that I am,” Dembowski said. “It shouldn’t matter what you have and don’t have. If you’re hungry, you eat.”