NEPTUNE CITY - Second Chances, a thrift store setting up shop across the street from the Neptune City Shopping Center, looks much like other boutiques these days - from its cream-colored walls, to its plush, overstuffed sofas and touches of wicker.
But it is more than what it seems: The store is a classroom for students of Monmouth University's Center for Entrepreneurship.
The students have teamed with Redeem-Her, a nonprofit group created in 2004 to help formerly incarcerated women make the transition back to society. All proceeds from the store go to support Redeem-Her programs.
"Even if this helps just one woman, it will be worth it," said Kaitlyn Clark, 20, a junior from Barnegat majoring in management and marketing.
Students Samantha Baker, a junior, and senior Mike Battaglio, 23, take inventory of the items on sale at the Second Chances thrift store, which is being run to benefit Redeem-Her, a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated women make the transition back to society. (STAFF PHOTOS: MARY FRANK)
Over the years, the West Long Branch school's center has created a number of businesses - from a pasta sauce aimed at local grocery stores, to a credit card to designing and marketing a clothing line.
But this one had real resonance for the students, said professor John Buzza. Redeem-Her runs a variety of programs from delivering holiday presents to the children of imprisoned women, to putting paroled women up in halfway houses, armed with the type of clothing needed to go on job interviews.
Buzza, who teaches the entrepreneurship elective, said his collaboration with Redeem-Her helps him impart some lessons in business ethics, primarily that money isn't everything.
"The ability to be philanthropic, that is one of the most important lessons our students can learn this semester," Buzza said. "Part of our society would be better off if we had students focusing on their social responsibility as well as their financial responsibility."
Redeem-Her was founded by Stacey Kindt, 34, of Point Pleasant Beach, who spent 16 months in the Edna Mahon Correctional Facility in Hunterdon County on a kidnapping charge stemming from a child custody dispute. Her conviction was overturned on appeal. Her prison education included the realization that there were few programs designed to support or assist women after their release.
"Just because you've been locked up doesn't mean you don't have something to contribute," said Kindt, who searched far and wide for a suitable store location.
"There is no way we could have ever done this without their help," Kindt said of the Monmouth University students. "It literally took 40 people, (with) everyone doing a piece."
Monmouth University professor John Buzza reviews last-minute preparations with his students.
Benjamin R. Evenden, 22, a finance major from Pennsylvania, is the chief executive officer of the class's corporation. The students all serve different positions, from corporate officers to inventory clerks to sometime construction workers.
"I knew it was more about getting involved than sitting in class and learning," said Shaina Chagrin, 21, a senior from Jackson who is majoring in business management. "We accomplished so much in only two months."
Jonathan Monteiro, 21, a senior marketing major from Colts Neck, said class members surveyed other thrift stores as they prepared their business plan. The store includes a donated diverse stock from new to gently used clothing, designer handbags and home decor items.
"We thought if the economy is bad, more people might be willing to shop in a thrift store, to try different outlets rather than buy wholesale," he said.
Monteiro got more than his share of real world experience when he applied for a marketing position but instead was placed on inventory management. Still, he remains enthusiastic about the work he is doing with Second Chances.
"You can learn everything about running a business from textbooks, but until you apply it, you haven't learned anything," he said.
Landlord Richard Roccesano said a thrift shop made good business sense for the community. Moved by the work Redeem-Her is trying to accomplish at its Third Avenue location, he also arranged for a $10,000 grant from his Galesi Family Foundation to be awarded.
Many shoppers who come to Second Chances will never know it benefits a charity for former convicts or that the sales clerks ringing up orders spent time behind bars, he predicted.
"You have to look beyond those things," said Roccesano, of Spring Lake. "When you have a small business with a vested interest in succeeding, which they clearly do, the odds are they will succeed. When you have a lot of support and a willingness to succeed, it makes it easier to succeed."
Roccesano likened the grant and his other efforts to merely putting fuel in a car. "You've got to have the car to go someplace else, and now they've got it," he said.
Kindt views the car metaphor in quite the opposite way. The "car" isn't going anyplace, she said. "We expect to be here for 20 years," Kindt said.
