The volunteers who run the St Andrew's Church opportunity shop in Stratford have taken the idea of turning trash into treasure and made it a reality with the generous donation of 20 brand new scooters, and helmets, to schools in the area last week.
Op shop chief volunteer, Penny Gavan,says the idea came from a chance conversation with someone in town. "This lady was saying how she helps with reading in one of the schools, and she finds that when children have trouble concentrating, she tells them to go for a quick walk outside to burn off some energy, and she finds they learn better afterwards." This got the team at the op-shop thinking of ways they could help children burn off some energy quickly and have fun while doing it. Penny says once they came up with the idea of gifting schools a stock of scooters to could be used, they approached the New Plymouth Warehouse and negotiated a decent price on a bulk purchase of 20 scooters. "We got ones that take weight up to 100kgs so it didn't exclude the older children, plus we purchased helmets as well."
Penny and the other volunteers then contacted schools asking if they wanted them and last week, assembled 20 scooters ready to be delivered to Stratford Primary, Ngaere School, Toko School, Midhirst School and St Joseph's.
This generous donation is only one way the op-shop has been helping children in the community. In the first three months of this year, a staggering $2000 has already been donated to schools to help subsidise the cost of school trips.
"It's a great way to give back to the community and to help children who might otherwise miss out on stuff," says Penny.
The funds raised by the op-shop initiative constantly go back into the community, and even the pricing in the shop itself is designed to everyone can access warm clothing, toys and books when they need. "We ask for a donation rather than a set price, and when groups like Pregnancy Help are running low on clothes they come to us and take what they need."
The St Andrew's Op Shop is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am - 1pm and is in the church hall on Regan / Miranda St. They welcome donations of clothes, books, toys and other sellable items. Either drop them into the shop or give Reverend John Mattock a call on 06 7628 863 to organise collection.
