Agape Way opens thrift store, begins recovery support effort in Del Rio

A new thrift store on Bedell Avenue became Agape Way Foundation’s first public step toward a recovery support program in Del Rio, drawing nearly 50 community leaders to a noon ribbon-cutting. Del Rio Mayor Al Arreola Sr., city council members, justices of the peace and other civic leaders joined founder and program director Janelle Vera as the nonprofit marked the opening.

Vera described the store as the beginning of a broader recovery effort, not the end point. The shop is intended to serve as the first phase of a larger support plan, giving Agape Way a revenue source and a public foothold as it builds what it hopes will become a local recovery pipeline.

That effort lands in a community where the existing support network is visible but limited. Val Verde County’s own resources list a mental health center, drug and alcohol assessment contacts and AA meetings in English and Spanish. Hill Country MHDD Centers lists the Val Verde County Mental Health Center at 1927 N. Bedell in Del Rio, placing one of the area’s main behavioral-health touchpoints directly on the same corridor as Agape Way’s new store. Regionally, the need is underscored by a Texas Tribune report that said more than 90% of Texas border counties do not have enough primary care services, sites or providers to meet local medical needs.

Transportation remains part of the same equation. TxDOT’s Laredo District includes Val Verde County, and state border-planning materials emphasize the challenge of moving people and goods efficiently and safely across the border region. In that setting, a recovery program that relies on residents getting to services, meetings and appointments faces a practical test as much as a financial one.

Del Rio has seen a thrift-store model support health care before. The Bargain Box previously backed Val Verde Regional Medical Center’s hospice program, and its board said it had donated $1.3 million to that cause over the years. Agape Way now appears to be trying to adapt that same local formula for recovery support, with the Bedell Avenue store as the starting point and the next stage still ahead.