Most products sold in New Danville Store in Market Street are handmade by special needs adults in Willis.

Store owner Kathy Sanders founded New Danville, a nonprofit, self-sustaining, master-planned community 10 years ago in Willis where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities can live, learn, work and grow.

“We have 100 individuals who come to New Danville daily, but not all of them want to nor [do they] have the ability to actually be in the manufacturing and the production [business],” Sanders said. “Out of the 100, I would say 50 percent have the ability and desire to want to learn and make a product and work.”

Some popular products sold in the store include teas, vanilla extract, bath products and food packages like cake mixes, Sanders said.

“About 90 percent of all the products in [the store] we do make in Willis,” Sanders said. “There’s a few things we don’t make that we think complement our products. For example, we package all of our baking mixes, but we don’t make the [baking pans]. We purchase it to go with it. We package all of our teas, but then we purchase teapots and tea accessories.”

Sanders founded the New Danville community when her special needs son, Jimmy, had a difficult time maintaining a job despite having the ability and desire to work.

“After he graduated from high school, he had a lot of problems out there trying to find the right fit for him,” Sanders said. “It’s hard with special needs [people] because they want to work, but in most jobs, they can’t keep up with a worker who doesn’t have disabilities. What we find is kind of a roller coaster. They get excited about finding a job, and then they get on the job and it doesn’t work out.”

Sanders began researching local resources her son might turn to only to find out there was nothing close by that fit his needs, she said.

“I was challenged by someone who said, ‘You’re just going to have to build it then,’” Sanders said. “It took about six months to develop the business plan. I already had the background in raising someone with special needs, and I had done many things in my adult career that helped me toward building a community.”

Prior to starting New Danville, Sanders was the general contractor for building her own home. Additionally, she was a volunteer supervisor at a hospital where she recruited and trained volunteers. Her background was in food manufacturing, so she knew the New Danville residents would be able to make prepackaged food to sell.

Once New Danville was up and running, Sanders made sure there was a space for the special needs adults who were able to work.

“We had been making products for several years, but we didn’t really have a place to market it,” Sanders said. “We tried at one time at our outlet store in Conroe, which is Jazzy Junque, but products just didn’t go well there.”

Sanders happened to meet the general manager of Market Street at an event, and they struck up a converstation about the possibility of New Danville Store coming to the shopping destination. 

New Danville Store originally opened last fall in a different Market Street storefront. The store’s existing location, which opened in June in an area with more foot traffic, is where Sanders hopes to keep the business permanently, she said.

“It was just—what I call—one of those miracles in life that you never expect is going to happen, and there it was,” Sanders said. “I’ve always wanted to be at Market Street—just didn’t think we could ever afford it.”

One hundred percent of New Danville Store’s proceeds benefit the New Danville community, and the store is operated by volunteers 99 percent of the time, she said.

“Most of them are parents, but we have a lot volunteers from the community who want to come and help,” Sanders said. “We’re always looking for new volunteers.”