A dontaton sign outside the Thrift Shop.
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There’s no vow of poverty for these Monks.
A well-known chain of thrift stores that says it shares part of its proceeds with a Brooklyn church apparently believes that charity begins — and ends — at home.
Church elders at the Baptist Fellowship Church say they’ve never gotten a dime or a stitch of clothing from any of the city’s four Monk thrift stores — even though the shops tout themselves as “donation centers” for the church and hand out receipts emblazoned with Fellowship Baptist Church and its Coney Island address.
“This will acknowledge with thanks the donation of the listed articles or goods to the Fellowship Baptist Church to assist on the furtherance of its programs,” said a receipt obtained by The Post from Monk’s Vintage Shop on MacDougal Street in Manhattan, in exchange for donating a small black bag.
“A portion of the proceeds will go to the church,” said a clerk, when asked whether the bag itself would go to the needy, or cash from its eventual resale.
Later, the store manager Derek Elmehdelli, who said he’d been working at Monk Vintage Thrift Shop for nearly 20 years, contradicted his clerk.
“No, no money, we don’t give them that. We send them stuff. We used to have people in that community come with vouchers from the church, and they could get clothes and stuff,” he said, adding that he’d worked with a Pastor John from “whatever church is on our receipt.”
The Fellowship Baptist Church has gotten calls from curious donors before about Monks, said a church elder.
“We don’t know any Monk, we’ve never received any money or clothes from them — never, never, never,” said John Williams, adding that the West 20th Street church also never had a Pastor John.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is looking into Monk’s charitable claims, said spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua.
Alison Miller, 22, claims she was duped into believing her donations would go to Fellowship Baptist when she dropped off items at the Monk on Third Street.
“I specifically asked about that, because I wanted to give them to someone who needed them,” she said. The store manager, Ibrahim Magdy, gave her a Fellowship Baptist Church receipt for “1 large bag of clothing.”
She was shocked to see her Anne Klein outfits up for sale in the store window a few days later.
“That lady, she is crazy, coming in here yelling about her clothes,” Magdy said. “I never said they go to the church — just some of the proceeds.”
But the Monk stores come off as more shifty than thrifty, said one charity watchdog group.
“They are taking away from legitimate charities — this is harmful and disturbing,” said Sandra Minuitti, of Charity Navigator.