Mustard Seed Gift Shop coming to Ridgeland
A Mustard Seed Gift Shop is coming to Olde Towne Ridgeland early next year while a pop up store is coming to Madison just in time for Christmas.
Ridgeland’s Gayla Stone, president of the board of the non-profit Christian group home for individuals with developmental disabilities, sees the Ridgeland location as an opportunity to expand their ministry.
She cannot wait for the Olde Towne gift shop to open, especially since Caroline, one of her daughters, is a Seedster, as the ministry’s people are known.
“Caroline is 29 and she absolutely loves The Mustard Seed,” Stone said. “She knows she’s loved and valued and she couldn’t be happier there, and we feel the same way. It’s a wonderful ministry and we’re so excited about extending to Ridgeland.”
The Mustard Seed is a Flowood-based group home which cares for adults with special needs and serves as a place for them to recreate and work creating paintings and ceramics which are sold in The Mustard Seed Gift Shop.
The new gift shop will open on Jan. 9, 2023, at 115 North Wheatley Street right next door to The Lily Pad, a cafe that employs people with special needs.
The Mustard Seed also plans to have a pop-up store on Dec. 1 in conjunction with Madison’s Christmas Tree Lighting.
Stone said Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee and other Ridgeland officials have welcomed The Mustard Seed with open arms.
“We appreciate the friendliness in Ridgeland and the entire Madison County area,” Stone said. “They’ve been so welcoming and inclusive, and all the city officials have been wonderful to work with. It means a lot and we’re very excited about our future in Ridgeland.”
“We’re also very excited about school involvement,” Stone said. “We have a lot of volunteers from Flowood and Brandon schools and we look forward to Madison County Schools doing the same. Our volunteers enhance the program immensely.”
Del Adams, executive director of The Mustard Seed, said the idea to have a Mustard Seed Gift Shop extension in Ridgeland came up back in August after having Seedsters from the Madison County area and knowing people come all the way from Madison County to buy from their gift shop.
“We thought that these people could be a part of our program without having to drive all the way to Flowood,” Adams said. “Through COVID we learned that there are a lot of people that would like to buy from us and work with us, but they couldn’t find a way to get out here.”
Adams said Mayor McGee, along with the city of Ridgeland, have been very welcoming to the Seedsters and she can’t wait to open to the public.
“We’re not officially partnered with The Lily Pad, but we’ve worked together with them and we’re good friends with the people there,” Adams said. “We’re looking forward to being a community that supports people with differing abilities and we're excited to be their neighbors.”
She said along with the gift shop extension, The Mustard Seed plans to implement a transportation system to help Madison-based Seedsters travel to the main campus in Flowood. She added that the gift shop will be hiring people to work part-time and they are looking for volunteers, especially students from Madison County Schools.
Adams hopes for future development of The Mustard Seed in Ridgeland.
“I hope people will see that Ridgeland is supporting people with differing abilities and see the ways that Mayor McGee and his team are moving Ridgeland forward,” Adams said. “It’s great to be a part of and I look forward to this.”
To learn more about The Mustard Seed, how to register a Seedster or volunteer, visit www.mustardseedms.org, or call (601) 992-3556 or go to shopmustardseedms.org to shop.