Second Chance Stories: The Hanger Hounds

They call themselves the “hanger hounds.”

On sale days at Second Chance Emporium, these volunteers prowl the aisles of clothing that fill a third of the nonprofit shop. As customers pull a fancy dress or a Carhart shirt off hangars, the hounds are there to collect the empties.

The hounds retrieve the hangers –wire, plastic, wood – and fetch them to the back of store. During the hours the store is open on Fridays and Saturdays, the hanger hounds never rest.

Second Chance is operated by seven La Grange-area churches. The store depends on donations and volunteers. Generous people bring clothing, dishes, trinkets, DVDs, paintings and business supplies to the shop on S. Reynolds St. in La Grange. Volunteers come in every week to help the hardworking paid staff take those donations and get them displayed for the two sale days.

During the week, volunteers put out clothes, move furniture, place kitchen equipment on layers of shelves and hang works of art on the store’s walls. On sales dates, volunteers man the cash registers, load furniture and, yes, pick up all those empty hangers.

“Profits” from Second Chance go back to local social service groups. Second Chance makes regular grants to AMEN, the food pantry in La Grange; Tejas Health Care; the Schulenburg Area Food Pantry; the Fayette County Prescription Drug Program; Bluebonnet Trains Community Services; and Combined Community Action.

The store makes special grants, too. Most recently, Second Chance made these grants:

• $6,000 to help pay for a counseling internship program at the La Grange schools. Graduate students from the University of Texas at San Antonio will work at the schools under the supervision of La Grange resident Katie Gross, who has a doctorate in counselor education.

• $1,000 to buy uniforms for new La Grange police academy recruits and to support “Coffee With Cops,” an opportunity for La Grange residents to get to know their police officers.

• $9,843.70 for St. Mark’s Hospital to purchase a defibrillator that will be on a resuscitation cart at the Cardiovascular Imaging Center in the Medical Office Building next to the hospital.

Second Chance is open from 9 am until 3 pm every Friday and Saturday. And when you see the “hanger hounds” roaming the clothing section, don’t worry. They are friendly.