Wednesday, June 16, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.
The moment a blessing turns into a curse can sometimes be hard to pinpoint.
For the Rev. Steven Mues, chief executive of St. Jude's Ranch for Children, a nonprofit residential program for abused children in Boulder City, that moment came about three months ago.
That's when Mues said he realized the thrift store his group had operated on its campus for close to 10 years was causing more problems than it was solving. It was time to close it, he said later.
Shortly after Mues decided to shutter the store, a new opportunity for the site came along in the form of a vocational and life skills training center, thanks to a generous donor who proposed the idea. For several years, the thrift store had provided a source of income for St. Jude's Ranch. But sometime this spring Mues realized the store actually had been losing money, he said.
"It was kind of an institution in Boulder City, and it's sad to see it go," he said.
But the piles of donated clothing, appliances and pieces of furniture outside the group's warehouse had become an eyesore. Area residents were using the drop-off station at the thrift store as a dumping ground, said Becki Powell, director of marketing at the ranch. Neighbors complained, she said.
"It became an increasing problem, and I began to see that we just could not dig out from under it," Mues said.
Volunteers at the store could not process all the donated items, Mues added. So the thrift store closed on Monday.
Replacing the store, however, will be a new education center, paid for with a gift from Richie Clyne, a developer who built the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and who, according to Mues, has been a longtime supporter of the ranch. Mues said he did not know exactly how much money Clyne would contribute.
"Many wonderful people have donated things, but the costs of handling all the donations were just far more than we were taking in," Mues said. The group will continue to accept donations of clothing and other items on behalf of the children in its residential programs, but Mues ask that donors call the organization first to make sure they can use the goods.
Construction on the new education center will likely begin in the fall, Mues said. The center likely will focus on teaching children practical skills, such as car repair and plumbing, he said.
"The thrift store is just a store, but this is an educational opportunity," Mues said.
Clyne was not available for comment because he is on vacation.
The ranch's thrift store in Las Vegas at 1717 W. Charleston Blvd. near Eastern Avenue will remain open, as will the gift shop at the main entrance to the campus of the ranch in Boulder City.
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