TEEN CHALLENGE THRIFT STORE OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Just three months ago, the Teen Challenge Thrift Store was gutted by an accidental fire. Everything was lost.

But now the shop has reopened at a new location: 117 N. Middle, just a half-block south of Broadway. An official grand opening will be scheduled later this month.

The reopening is a tribute to Teen Challenge, its many dedicated volunteers and the community.

The thrift store has been operated for close to a decade by auxiliary volunteers. Proceeds benefit a number of needs at the Teen Challenge drug rehabilitation center north of Cape Girardeau.

The new store has about twice the floor space of the former location. But generous community benefactors have already donated so many items that volunteers have been busy finding enough space to display it. That's a nice kind of problem.

Teen Challenge International is truly an amazing program. The organization, which was created nearly 40 years ago, has achieved consistent success rates of 70 percent or better for young men fighting drug and alcohol addictions. It operates a network of 130 national sites and another 150 worldwide. The site just north of Cape Girardeau is the fifth-largest Teen Challenge facility in the world.

The thrift shop is a nice way for the community and region to lend a helping hand to this extraordinary program through donations and purchases.