Our Impact

The La Casa Thrift Store has become so popular, it moved to a new, larger location in Las Cruces at 1021 E. Amador Ave., Suite A. The new location has three times the square feet of the old building, with a larger store area and more space for sorting and distributing donations. It is also centrally located and highly visible, with ample parking.

La Casa has also expanded its Donations program and made it even more effective. Donated goods benefit individuals and organizations in Las Cruces, Anthony, Deming, and Hatch. Communications on social media and word of mouth have helped educate the community about what type of donations we require and how their donations are helping to effect change. 

Donated goods received are sorted, with the needs of the Las Cruces, Deming, Anthony, and Hatch La Casa clients filled first. This might include clothing, toys, baby items, and hygiene goods.

Needed items are then disbursed to our Clothing Closets at our Visitation Center and other La Casa locations.

La Casa’s Thrift Store receives items next. As always, 100% of the revenue from the sale of donated goods supports La Casa and directly benefits clients. 

Donated items are also shared with an array of our local nonprofit partners including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Hatch Valley Public Schools, Gadsden Independent School District, Tutti Bambini, St. Vincent de Paul, Safe Haven, Twice Blessed, and La Tienda. 

A growing, dedicated, and motivated team of staff and volunteers sorts the vast amounts of donated goods. They know that their work is vital to keep La Casa running. With the store’s success, even more customer discounts are now available. Senior Citizen’s Day offers 50% off, plus there are discounts for students and veterans.

A new box truck has increased awareness of La Casa. The truck’s colorful graphics work like a moving billboard. The large truck makes it possible to pick up donations, especially helpful for large items like much-needed furniture.

Due to a partnership with New Mexico State University, La Casa was able to expand its counseling services for children and adults. A grant allowed us to support NMSU graduate students from the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology to provide counseling to our clients in Deming and Las Cruces, both in person and via telehealth.

Clinical supervision of the graduate students is provided by the La Casa Clinical Director. 

NMSU and La Casa are long-standing partners working to end homelessness and domestic
violence in southern New Mexico. NMSU students founded La Casa in 1981, and since that time,
both students and faculty have served as volunteers and experts on a variety of projects.

The need for the services we provide continues to grow. Currently we place over 30-40 people a month in hotels because the shelter has no available space. Demand for other services also keeps expanding. With increased demand, La Casa has been studying how the organization can move ahead providing even more vital services, and what type of physical facilities will be required.

In 2023, as space constraints within the existing facility became more and more apparent, we began a process with Groundwork Studio and FBT Architects to envision a new campus. This has entailed speaking with survivors, community leaders, staff and board members about services being provided now and looking ahead to what is needed for the future. We are examining what the full range of holistic services provided by La Casa should be in order to help clients move through crisis and back into the community.

Now, with the results of this visioning process in hand, we are moving ahead with a conceptual design for proposed facilities planned to suit La Casa’s and the community’s needs. The design of the new facility will incorporate best practices in victim-centered and trauma-informed care. The existing Walnut facility will not be abandoned, but will be re-purposed so it can be used as a workforce development and donation center.

In order to make this vision a reality, we are taking concrete steps to acquire additional funding that will increase La Casa’s operating budget, facilitate the addition of new services, and allow for the construction of a new campus. Looking ahead, we hope to acquire funding from a variety of sources so we can build and sustain the new campus.

Working together with city, county, state, and federal partners, we believe that we can continue to meet the changing and complex needs of the communities we serve.