Focus on Volunteers: Foxton Community Op-Shop supports community

The entrance to the Op Shop. Photo taken with a 1990s Seagull 4A Camera.

Across Foxton are volunteers from every walk of life helping the community in almost every way you can think of. In this occasional series of photo-articles, the MAVtech Museum’s photographer Jacob Brookie is using vintage cameras from the museum’s collection to show you a day in the life of our town’s volunteers.It

Since opening in January 2023, the Foxton Community Op-Shop has been raising money for the Foxton and Foxton Beach Volunteer Fire Brigades, Hato Hone St John Ambulance and Youth Sport in Foxton. In its first two months it had raised $12,000, with $80,000 raised within its first year. With fundraising estimated to have reached $120,000, MAVtech’s cameras photographed busy volunteers in the shop.

Marie preparing new stock in the shop. Photo taken with a 1990s Seagull 4A Camera.

The Foxton Community Op-Shop was founded by Julie Petersen and Jenny Stokes. Jenny used to manage the Hato Hone St John shop in Levin so had no difficulty in setting up a store in Foxton’s Southern Cross Centre. “It was easy” she said, “I just needed to find the right volunteer for the right job”. The store has 15 volunteers, with another two starting in the new year. Not all volunteers work in the shop - with some volunteers helping prepare items for sale by cleaning and ironing. The shop is a registered charity - and Julie said that the application process took longer than opening the store!

Marie sorting in the shop. Photo taken with a 1990s Seagull 4A Camera.

When the Chronicle visited, volunteers were busy sorting clothing and blankets for display, as well as checking new donations. One of the benefits of supporting so many community groups is that their members regularly donate items for sale - including some vintage photo lab envelopes Jacob purchased while taking photographs. “The four charities we support have helped everyone in Foxton at some point,” said Jenny, adding that it is wonderful to be able to give back to them via the shop.

Volunteers busy sorting new donations. Photo taken with a 1966 Marshal Press.

Volunteer Marie has been with the Community Op-Shop since it first opened. At first, she helped with printing, but now she volunteers in the shop and as secretary to the trust which governs the charity. While cleaning and sorting the shop’s books, Marie emphasised the kindness of all those who donated shelves, racks and display stands for the shop “It makes everything look so much tidier.”

New donations are checked and priced behind the scenes. Photo taken with a 1990s Seagull 4A Camera.

Recently the volunteers have started organising community events such as a fundraising fashion show held last September. Jenny and the team continue to volunteer to help volunteers and welcome donations and visitors. The shop is open from 10am-4pm Thursdays-Mondays.

Maire enters the code of the film packet Jacob bought at the front counter. Photo taken with a 1966 Marshal Press

Jacob used two cameras to take these photographs - a 1990s Seagull 4A and a 1966 Marshal Press. The Seagull was loaded with a special type of black and white film known as “orthochromatic”, which cannot see the colour red. Anything red comes out as black- one of the reasons we think people from the Victorian era dressed so dourly! Orthochromatic film was used by the press a lot as it worked well with flashbulbs, and many snapshooters used it as late as the 1950s due to its lower price.

With this being the last edition of the Chronicle, Jacob would like to thank the volunteers in all these articles for welcoming him with his cameras, the Horowhenua Chronicle for publishing them, and all the paper’s readers for their support. It has been a great honour to be able to focus on volunteers.