There's an old saying, that life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react.

In Elkhart County, folks who have lost their jobs may think those percentages are a little off, but there's one place where a lay-off was seen as an opportunity to help the entire community.

You might not even notice Liquidator’s Landing in an unassuming strip mall on State Road 19.

“It's one of those stores where if you go in this week, you don't know what's going to be in there next week,” said Daryl Maurer, who founded the store with his wife.

That day-by-day approach matched the couple’s mindset going in.

“You've worked there for 26 years, and then it's gone,” Maurer said.

The doors closed on Maurer's old life at Monaco Coach, like they did for many others.

He and his wife realized there were lots of folks like them that would be scraping by.

“It was a chance for us to get into a business to pay the bills and everything, and hopefully also to help others,” Maurer said.

Offering people essentials that they can afford. Many items are half off the retail price, or even less, just because there's a scratch or a dent.

“We tried to sell it as cheap as we could to help out everybody, (but enough) to keep the lights on,” Maurer said, laughing.

Part business, part mission; and things went well.

After a few months, the Maurer’s got some good news.

“I got the call back, which was great. I mean I loved working there, it’s been a good part of my life,” said Maurer, who was among those who were called back to work at Monaco earlier this year.

But, they no longer had time for the store.

“It was just the right fit for us, we felt like God opened up a door,” said current owner Ray Randolph.

Fortunately, Randolph and his family were ready to take over the reigns.

“His vision with was running it the same way, giving people the best (prices) they could for it,” Maurer said.

“We're known as ‘the cheap store,’ and I’ve heard that from a lot of people,” Randolph said.

They're continuing to offer the deep discounts on a wide range of items, everything from bikes to electronics to home goods. They even have new toys, which some kids may have been going without for a while.

“It's fun to see the small kids running in here… and we definitely have things (parents) can afford in their budget,” Randolph said.

But it doesn't end there.

The Randolph’s plan to put a lot of the profits into their other mission: a new food ministry in the area, which would help families in need.

“We know that in this area it's needed and (someone) needs to step up to the bat,” Randolph said.

So an endeavor born out of struggle has grown into a support system.

“You don’t look at (a lay-off) as an opportunity at first. You’re just looking at, man, I lost what I had. But it is an opportunity to do something different,” Maurer said.

“We'd like to be a blessing to the community and we believe that is happening,” Randolph said.

Randolph says they also do a lot of repairs on items.

For example, they just had to order one part for a top-of-the-line vacuum cleaner to get it working again. Then, they were able to sell it for about a fourth of the retail price.

Liquidator's Landing is near the intersection of State Road 19 and Old U.S. 33 in Elkhart, next to the Save-A-Lot.