NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — A Noblesville store says just by changing their name, they can change lives.

NobleCause is a food pantry and a thrift store rolled into one. But when their sign just said thrift store, they weren’t sure people got the point. Now they’re hoping some rebranding will help them help others.

The ribbon was cut Saturday afternoon and shoppers piled into the front of the NobleCause Resale Store to find the best deals that they could. And 85% of every purchase made went toward the back of the store — a food pantry that only those in need are allowed to access.

“That contribution, if you’re spending $100 in this store, we know that 85 of it is going to go directly to purchasing food,” General Manager of Operations Dee Ricciardi said. “So it’s them serving the community as well.”

Hamilton County may seem like an odd choice for a food pantry. Even with one of the highest median incomes in Indiana, they sit at a 4.2% poverty rate. That may not seem like a lot, but it ends up being around 14,000 people.

“Along with our wealth comes a lot of service jobs,” Ricciardi said. “And those jobs are at minimum wage. That’s hard to do: to live in Hamilton County and provide a life for your children. So those dollars, they are food insecure. And we’re trying to supplement that.”

The store has been in business for 30 years. It started with a priest in a garage and grew to what it is today. The store helped out over 63,000 people in 2019, so they aren’t struggling to stay afloat. They just thought a rebranding would help their noble cause of reaching more people.

“We have had quite a few donations come in as well that say. ‘We didn’t even know, realize what you did.’ So identifying as a store that’s supporting a pantry is really important to us,” Ricciardi said.

In order to make that happen, they need people. And according to Noblesville’s mayor, they’ve got a lot of willing participants.

“Our mission as citizens of any community — and especially here in Noblesville — is to lift those up that need a hand up in Noblesville,” Mayor Chris Jensen said.

“The 175 volunteers that come in every day make all the difference in the world,” Ricciardi said.

NobleCause’s next step is to expand on their current location near South 10th Street and Greenfield Avenue. They bought a plot of land next door and plan on making the store and pantry two separate buildings and giving each a little more space.