THRIFT STORE PROVIDES MORE THAN GOOD PRICE

In the old days, Winchester Hardware store in Campbell was the type of
neighborhood place where it didn't matter if you were buying something
for 50 cents or for $100 -- you could slowly browse the aisles and get
friendly, patient service all the same.

It's a little like that in the same building today, even though the
hardware store is long gone, the victim of big-box store competition.
The business isn't hardware now; it's recovering lives.

Teen Challenge, a non-profit, faith-based, drug and alcohol
rehabilitation organization, opened a long-planned thrift store there
this month to help bring in revenue for its programs and train its
100-some clients. Some are teens, most are much older, and their
handiwork is all over the store.

There's Christmas music playing from the boom box in the corner, a
living-room set, a new-clothes section, a used-clothes section, a
children and infants section full of games, books and stuffed animals.
The small holiday section features several new tree angels, a
hand-blown ornament, lights, cards and such. Items cost from 25 cents
to $150.

``We want people to get a good find, walk out of here and feel like
they got something really good at a good price,'' said Carolyn
Hughlett, the store manager. At noon, already, there was someone
haggling pleasantly over a bright red Eddie Bauer jacket. But all to
the good.

Needing guidance

There is Sara, a 27-year-old college graduate and mother of two who
was cleaning the windows and dusting the furniture when I came in. And
Ben, the strapping 22-year-old from Vacaville who was moving furniture
and hanging displays.

``I was pretty much a mess,'' Sara said, remembering how her addiction
to prescription pain pills had brought her so close to losing custody
of her 5-year-old son, she said. Her parents had intervened in her
destructive behavior when she was pregnant with her second son.

Now the former Seattle resident is seven months into the 1-year Alum
Rock Women & Children's Center program operated by the 44-year-old
Teen Challenge. It is a Christian-based program, built on highly
structured days and nights of rehabilitation and personal growth
classes and church on Sunday.

There is child care, and all meals are planned for the week and
prepared by someone else. All free. When she goes out on special
duties, such as her stint at the thrift store, a sack lunch is made by
her cohorts at the center. She calls it a gift.

``A lot of people fight it,'' she said of the 24/7 structure and all
rules. ``I find it really comforting.''

It is, she said, what addicts need. Structure. Rules. ``You need to
have discipline. You need to follow all the little rules so that you
can follow the big rules when you go back out.''

Getting grounded

Teen Challenge makes participants learn a new way of functioning by
examining family relationships, work attitudes, self-image and esteem,
peer pressure, addictions and social issues. Yeah, God is in that
examination, too, said Executive Director Randy Rowe. Nationally, Teen
Challenge boasts an 86 percent success rate; locally it operates a
men's center in Oakland, and a women and children's center and a
family center in San Jose.

In a few more months, Sara will be out. Then she'll meet monthly with
a mentor -- similar to the role of a sponsor in a 12-step program --
who sees it as his or her obligation to provide the emotional and
practical sounding board for the transition period while she works to
make good decisions for herself and her family.

So if you're in the right kind of holiday mood, drop by today and pick
out a couple of things, maybe a tree angel or a sprig of silk
poinsettia. The service is patient and friendly, whether you spend 50
cents or $100.

And when you consider that in recovered lives, it is, indeed, a good
price.