Mercy Beaucoup Means 'Thank You' to Shoppers and 'Opportunity' for Kids: Chicago Upscale Resale Boutique Benefits Mercy Home for Boys & Girls

CHICAGO, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy Home for Boys & Girls has opened Mercy Beaucoup!, a new high-end resale boutique in Chicago's historic Old Town neighborhood.

Staffed by young people who live at Mercy Home, Mercy Beaucoup! will provide valuable entrepreneurial training while helping Mercy Home raise the support it needs to give children care, safety, education and opportunity.

A special media and VIP open house is scheduled for Monday evening, June 13 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Mercy Beaucoup!, located at 1545 N. Wells Street.  

Mercy Home's new Chicago boutique was made possible by a donation of the space by a generous friend of the home. The enterprise will continue Mercy Home's tradition of opening doors to work experience for youth that dates back to its founding in 1887. In the years around the turn of the last century, the homeless children who sought refuge at Mercy Home were taught life and work skills that helped them achieve independence in adulthood. They learned trades and skills like candle making and shoe and auto repair. They sold newspapers. And, they operated a printing press to produce the Waif's Messenger, a donor magazine now in its 112th year.

While the kinds of vocational training Mercy Home has offered its residents have evolved over time, the objectives of doing so have never waivered. Through programs like Mercy Beaucoup!, kids are given the tools they will need to create a solid foundation for life-long success. The new Wells Street Chicago boutique joins the array of career preparation, independent living, and financial literacy programs that Mercy Home makes available to young people—programs that round out the Home's therapeutic and educational services.

"It is life-changing for a child to earn a paycheck, often for the very first time," said the Reverend L. Scott Donahue, Mercy Home's president. "That's why we work so hard and rely on so many good friends to connect our kids with work opportunities that enhance their experience inside the classroom, that give them a sense of independence and self-reliance."

Young men and women come to Mercy Home not only suffering at home, but often, struggling in school and lacking in positive work experience. "We help them see the value of working hard in school and in part-time or summer jobs as they develop and pursue their goals. Mercy Beaucoup! will play a significant role in the transformation of so many of our young people," Donahue said.  In addition to providing work experience for youth, Mercy Beaucoup! will raise revenue that helps the privately-funded, licensed childcare agency provide safety, structure, therapy and education for young people living on its two Chicago campuses, and for those in its mentoring and aftercare programs.

The new designer thrift store will delight both the value-conscious and fashion-conscious with a wide selection of top-quality, brand-name clothing and decor—all of it donated by generous friends and supporters of the home and professionally dry-cleaned by a Mercy Home donor.

For more information about Mercy Beaucoup!, visit mercyhome.org/mercybeaucoup.

About Mercy Home for Boys & Girls

Mercy Home for Boys & Girls has been a solution for kids in crisis since 1887. Our residential, aftercare, and mentoring programs provide safety and opportunity, hope and healing for more than 600 kids every year. Mercy Home is 99.6% privately funded and operates on two campuses in Chicago–a home for boys at 1140 W. Jackson Blvd. and a home for girls at 11600 S. Longwood Dr.

Please visit mercyhome.org to learn more.

SOURCE Mercy Home for Boys & Girls