The East Texas Crisis Center (ETCC) held the inaugural Deck the Halls with Hope event Saturday at Flamingos Resale Boutique, benefiting survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
“This is the first time we’ve ever held this event. We just wanted to create a Christmas-themed event to invite the community to learn about the store if they’ve never been, to come take pictures with Santa and learn about the Crisis Center,” said Jeremy Flowers, East Texas Crisis Center marketing and public relations director.
Santa Claus took pictures with guests while volunteers and store employees wrangled with pricing and stocking the racks with gently used items, from shoes and clothes to books and art.
ETCC Executive Director Nichole Henry said the event was an opportunity to introduce those who didn’t know about Flamingos to the resale store and thank the community for its many years of support.
As a nonprofit, the ETCC is 61% community funded and seeks as many revenue sources as possible, including the Deck the Halls with Hope event, Flowers said.
“This is just another way that the support of the East Texas community gives back to the Crisis Center, and so if it weren’t for that 61%, we wouldn’t exist to provide the services we do,” Flowers said.
Flowers said the community donates everything from clothing, home decor and other items to Flamingos, and the proceeds generate revenue for all the ETCC programs. During the event, everything in the store was 50% off as part of a sale ETCC does every first Saturday.
In 1996, ETCC opened its first resale store called “The Closet,” Flowers said. At some point, the name changed, but the premise remained. Flamingos also acts as a resource for survivors at the shelter, for those for whom ETCC provides counseling and advocacy, and for the community.
“A lot of times, survivors, when they go to the hospital or come into the shelter, they have only the clothes they’re wearing,” he said. “We provide vouchers for them to shop at Flamingos to get clothing for work, job interviews, daily wear or whatever it may be.”
Flamingos provides survivors with clothes, and the community can donate or purchase items themselves to help the ETCC.
“This is how we keep the lights on at the shelter,” Henry said. “This is how we pay for the hotline and intake workers. This is how we pay for our advocates. This is how we can keep our doors open for survivors.”
Anyone who’d like to volunteer can contact the ETCC by calling 903-509-2526 or by visiting the website at etcc.org. People who want to donate items to Flamingos can visit the store at 2108 S. Broadway Ave. or call 903-593-2553.