The Line Starts at 3:30 a.m.

Second Chance Stories

Holiday Rush On at Thrift Store as Charities Benefit to Tune of Half Million in 2023

The first person in line arrived at 3:30 a.m. Friday morning.

That’s early by anybody’s alarm clock and it was five and a half hours before the doors opened at Second Chance Emporium. By 9 o’clock, just over 200 people were waiting to come into the non-profit thrift store in La Grange.

On the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday, Second Chance booked record sales in what has been a record-breaking year. The enthusiasm of customers, the generosity of those who donate to the shop and the work of staff and volunteers have all combined to returned $543,000 in grants to area non-profits in 2023 alone.

Two of those customers were Sara Michna of Hallettsville and her sister, Katherine Altmeyer of Granbury. The sisters didn’t arrive in the middle of the night, but they did come in time to find a herd of stuffed horses for Sara’s daughter, Julia.

Julia is a rider and a budding rodeo star. And, yes, the horses are Christmas gifts, so don’t tell.

Sara is a regular Second Chance shopper, but even a regular was “shocked at the hectic-ness of a Friday.”

The payoff of the Friday and Saturday sales days comes in the monthly grants given to local food pantries, social service and health care agencies. The Second Chance board, which is made up of representatives from area churches, also makes special grants. Here are the local non-profits that recently received funds from Second Chance:

• The La Grange High School Band Booster Club received $4,000 to buy speakers for the Mighty Leopard Marching Band.

• Camp Invention received $5,400 to sponsor 20 children in the program.

• Round Top Family Library received $13,000 for monthly STEM activities and to start a culinary class for home-school students.

• The Alliance for College and Career Students at Blinn College received $25,000 to provide online dual credit courses, which satisfy both high school and college requirements.

• The Flatonia Area Food Pantry received $28,000 to purchase two freezers, two refrigerator chillers and food and produce racks to go into the group’s new facility.

• ARTS for Rural Texas received $10,000 for its Art After School program, which provides art education to elementary- aged children.

Second Chance is truly a local institution. Area residents donate things they no longer need. (Donations are taken during business hours at the store on South Reynolds, and on Saturday morning.) Local churches provide the volunteers. Local workers hustle through a mountain of donations. And customers come (mostly) from nearby communities.

They come early, too!