PHOTO OF THE DAY: VOLUNTEER ROLL

Emmit Ortman, who turned 7 years old on Saturday, rolls up a piece of old carpet at the Et Cetera Shoppe to be carried out and disposed of. Emmit, the son of Paul and Charity Ortman, was among a group of volunteers preparing the Freeman business for the installation of new flooring — part of a renovation project that has the shop closed to the public for the foreseeable future. A grand re-opening is planned, although a date has not yet been set.

The Et Cetera Shoppe, a thrift store that also supports global goods through Mennonite Central Committee, opened in Freeman in the fall of 1979 in the building that today is home to The Courier and has operated from its current location one spot to the north since 1994.