Monmouth U. helps to open thrift shop

WEST LONG BRANCH — Monmouth University students have taken on the task to help a nonprofit organization open a thrift shop in Neptune.

Professor John Buzza has brought the Monmouth University Center for Entrepreneurship and students together with the RedeemHer Organization to open the thrift store. All proceeds from the store will be donated to the nonprofit organization RedeemHer.

Monmouth University students from Buzza's entrepreneurship class are helping RedeemHer open the thrift store in Neptune, called Second Chances. The students and members of RedeemHer are involved in all aspects of the project, including creating a business plan, decorating, floor plans, sorting through donations, installing walls, public relations, marketing and staffing.

RedeemHer is a nonprofit inmate- and ex-offender-directed, self-help service organization. The organization exists to bridge the gap between incarcerated women and their communities and to prove that people really can be redeemed.

"Sometimes we're the last person to forgive ourselves," said RedeemHer founder Stacey Kindt.

The organization has three goals: to change the perceptions that society has about women in prison, to provide positive role models to women who are still incarcerated, and to meet the tangible, practical needs of incarcerated and recently released women.

The store will be a way to provide recently released women with the basic necessities needed to live and a way to get back on their feet, according to a press release from Monmouth University.

Some 40 students of Monmouth University in West Long Branch, ranging in age from19-23, are involved in the project.

"This project is giving the students reallife experience and on top of that, helping out the community and women of RedeemHer," Buzza stated.

Second Chance Thrift Store is expected to open in November. For more information, call 732-263-5507.