NATCHEZ — Even though she’s not a native, Natchez resident Kay Nunn said she has spent so much time here she feels like she is.

And Nunn said she hopes the time she has spent here has made a difference.

Taking a break from decorating her Christmas tree Sunday afternoon Nunn took a moment to look back at some of her past community service, which included being one of the original minds behind The Guardian Collection Thrift Store, which is affiliated with Catholic Charities.

The Guardian Collection sells clothes, cookware, appliances and other goods that have been donated by the community.

“I needed something to do when my husband died,” Nunn said. “So I got on the board of Catholic Charities.”

After discussing the need for funds among themselves and with a Catholic Charities representative from Jackson, the idea for the Guardian Collection was born.

“I never thought we’d be able to get it, but we did, and it worked,” Nunn said.

When the thrift store first opened, it only two small rooms to squeeze in all of the donations — which made sorting and pricing clothes an interesting ordeal.

“It was so small I would take a sheet out in the backyard and sort clothes there, and we would move them into the store when we got room,” she said.

And so, for the next several years, Nunn would first go to mass at Assumption Catholic Church and then would head to the store from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day.

“It was a lot of hard work, but we had a lot of fun,” she said. “I would like to think it did a lot of good.”