Teen Challenge and other donation boxes are located in the Gunbarrel Road Lowe’s parking lot.
John Thomas picks up donated items for Teen Challenge on Wednesday from a drop-off box located in the Gunbarrel Road Lowe’s parking lot.Roger Helle is frustrated.
He believes out-of-state organizations are cutting into Teen Challenge of the Mid-South’s territory. And worse, that most Chattanoogans don’t even know it.
Helle is executive director of Teen Challenge, a Chattanooga faith-based organization that partially funds itself by collecting used items and selling them at wholesale prices to America’s Thrift Store. Helle estimates revenue from the sales to be around 15 to 18 percent of Teen Challenge’s budget.
So he is wary when that income is threatened. Right now that’s a particular concern because of recycle/resale donation bins cropping up around Chattanooga that benefit causes with few or no local roots.
One such group is Gaia Movement USA, a Chicago-based nonprofit that collects and resells shoes and clothes to fund environmental education and conservancy, specifically aiding projects in Africa, India and South America.