Second Chance Stories

Joy Moore is a young woman who knows what she likes. So when the La Grange High School sophomore found two just-right blouses — one black, the other pink — she was “excited.”

It was Friday and Moore was at Second Chance Emporium, the non-profit resale shop in La Grange. Moore said she comes to Second Chance “quite a bit.”

She’s not alone. Second Chance is only open Fridays and Saturdays, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., and so the shopping is fast, furious and inexpensive.

You can find blouses, couches, frying pans and, this past week, a pair of yellow shoes that looked as though they had to have once been owned by Elvis.

More on those shoes later. A consortium of churches operates Second Chance and all profits go back to community organizations. This month, Second Chance announced more than $90,000 in donations:

• $11,460 to AMEN Food Pantry in La Grange to purchase a new freezer.

• $2,500 to the Fayette Public Library in La Grange for a summer reading program.

• $500 a month to the Celebration House Food Pantry in Flatonia to purchase food.

• $5,000 to the Round Top Festival Institute to help pay for the annual Young Persons Concert.

• $7,000 to the Texas Ramp Project to purchase supplies for new ramps that will be installed in homes.

• $31,000 for scholarships that will be given to students at every high school in Fayette County.

• $6,953 to the Fayette County EMS to purchase a drone to be used by volunteer fire departments to survey fire scenes and to search for lost people.

• $1,000 to the Faison Preservation Society to help pay for interior renovation of the Faison House in La Grange.

• $10,000 to Feed The Need, to build a new and larger food trailer.

• $12,000 to the Smithville Workforce Training Center to train and place Fayette County workers in skilled jobs.

• $5,000 to the La Grange school district to purchase steel tables, stools and tools for a floral design program.

Joy was back shopping Saturday. And so was a young man who picked up a pair of bright yellow dress shoes that were made with the skin of a sting ray and the hide of a yellow crocodile.

As he paid for his golden treasure, admirers in the store said the shoe’s new owner could now give Elvis a run for his money. The young man responded with a deep throated impersonation of The King: “Thank you. Thank you very much.”

And as he passed through the doors at Second Chance he added, “Elvis has left the building.”