THRIFT STORE HELPS RECOVERING ADDICTS

For Doug Collins, meeting up with Ben De Regt was divine
intervention.

"It was a strange thing - I believe it was God that did it," said
Collins.

Collins heads the board of directors for Life Recovery Association, a
non-profit Christian-based addiction treatment home that's operated in
Abbotsford for about five years.

The home receives no government funding, relying on donations, much of
which is from the local faith community. Still, Life Recovery needed
some extra help to maintain its $250,000 a year budget. The idea of
running a thrift shop to support the program came up at a board
meeting earlier this year, said Collins.

Then two weeks later De Regt called him, suggested the thrift store
idea and offered to help set it up. De Regt had some experience - he
and his wife Henny had started Bibles for Missions a decade ago, and
now have 28 successful thrift shops across western Canada, including
one on West Railway Street in Abbotsford, and more in the United
States and Australia. The two men made the agreement on about Feb. 1,
said Collins.

"We already had the site picked out and then Ben was gone for three
weeks on vacation. While he was gone we made it happen, and it opened
April 1," he said.

On April 23, Life's Second Chance at 32288 South Fraser Way held its
grand opening.

The De Regts will oversee the store, which is already chock-full of
clothes, household goods, furniture and appliances.

Their time is volunteered, said Collins, as is the time put in by the
women from the recovery house, who have all signed up to work at the
store. Up to 18 women from all over Canada are in the recovery house
at a time.

"Everyone wanted to go. It's a really fun atmosphere. It's been a
double blessing," said Collins, who has a couple of Life Recovery
"graduates" working for him. The thrift shop is set up so well, and
operating so smoothly, Collins said they may soon open more in the
Fraser Valley.