By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

For more than a decade, a group of local volunteers have been turning rags into riches. Then, selflessly, they've been giving those riches away to people in Hooksett who need help.

Bernadette Chevrette makes a sale at the Hooksett-ites Happy Helpers store at the courthouse in Hooksett. The group raises money for the town's benefit by selling used clothes and other items and giving it to the fire department and others groups. (N. Brown Photo)

The Hooksett-ites Happy Helpers is a nonprofit group of 10 senior citizens who run a secondhand clothing store off of Merrimack Street. They accept donations of clothes and other items from the public, they sell the merchandise at a bargain value and they donate the proceeds to the needy. Bernadette Chevrette, who founded the Happy Helpers in 1989 with her husband, Alpha Chevrette, said helping others is her private payoff.

"Working here, I get rewarded in so many ways," she said. "You get so much out of life, so many memories."

The clothing bank sits in an old highway garage building that is now shared by Hooksett District Court. There is only a small sign and very little decoration on the building's exterior, but inside are colorful people selling all varieties of useful goods at reasonable prices.

The Chevrettes began giving to the needy in 1989. Working with Elizabeth Dionne in the town offices, they identified people who were in need but didn't quite qualify for welfare. The Chevrettes would raise money for gift certificates to restaurants and stores during the holiday season.

The store soon moved into a small shack on the river off of Merrimack Road. Ever growing, volunteers then took one small bay in the old highway garage, and through the help of other volunteers made of friends and family - including Dale Hemeon, chairman of the Hooksett Highway Department - turned several sections of the building into a secondhand store.

The many volunteers now care for several large rooms full of merchandise. What is not sold goes to the Rev. Ken Whitney of the International Mission, who sends the goods to impoverished third-world countries.

For the past three years, proceeds totaling more than $30,000, from sold merchandise have gone into much needed supplies for the Hooksett Fire Department. Chevrette said the Happy Helpers began giving to the fire department because they are such a valuable resource to everyone in the community.

"They give to everybody," she said. "If they don't have what they need, we all suffer."

Recent donations from the Happy Helpers include thermalimaging cameras, used for locating hiding children and disoriented people in hazardous fire conditions. Their last gift was of mobile computers that stay in the fire trucks and provide easy access to essential information for firefighters entering a fire scene.

The group is currently saving up to buy a Zodiac water rescue boat for the fire department. The light and durable boat will replace an old heavy metal converted fishing boat that the department has been using, said Hooksett Fire Chief Michael Williams.

"They've been extremely good to us and we're tremendously grateful," Williams said. "What they've been doing helps the overall tax base and it helps the town."

But the humble Chevrette said the people of Hooksett who donate to the group's cause deserve credit for their good will as well. She said one frequent supporter of the clothing bank usually buys one small item, yet always leaves $20.

"We have so many good people here," said Chevrette, who is also an active church organist. "Everybody helps everybody."

The Hooksett-ites Happy Helpers Clothing Bank is open Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Fridays from noon to 2:30 p.m., and the third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

But it's not all work and no play for Chevrette. When one customer asked her if she would see her later in the week, Chevrette, who was going to a wedding to North Carolina, replied, "I won't see you Friday. I'll be dancing."