Ellen Coxon is Volunteer of the Month. Photo / Paul Brooks
Michelle from the City Mission shop, Zest for Mission, summed up her feelings for Ellen Cox, Volunteer of the Month, as follows:
"The person I wish to nominate for volunteer of the month is Ellen Coxen. Ellen has been volunteering for the Zest for Mission shop from the start with Robert Scott.
"Ellen sorts and prices our linen, goes on the till, opens up and runs the shop on Saturdays and does various other jobs as needed. Our linen area always looks good and has lovely fresh goods due to Ellen's hard work.
"She is very loyal and faithful and will come in if needed to do extra days if we have people away. She is always on time and often even early to shifts which is sometimes a great rescue.
"Ellen carries out her jobs cheerfully and is always good with both staff and customers. I have nominated Ellen from my staff as she has taken a big load off my shoulders by taking over the Saturday shift when two of our long term dedicated volunteers retired due to illness.
"I would like to nominate all my volunteers for this award as they are all outstanding and great in my opinion. But Ellen, thank you for all the support and help that you have given me and your fellow workers."
Last Friday, at the office of Volunteer Whanganui, manager Sandra Rickey presented Ellen with a certificate, a badge and a $40 voucher from Mud Ducks in recognition of being selected as Volunteer of the Month.
This is not Ellen's first stint as a volunteer. Years ago, when living in Stratford, she helped out at the Salvation Army shop, sorting clothing out the back of the shop.
"I thought, if I give it a go, I'm going to learn something," she says.
She moved to Whanganui to improve her employment chances, and she offered her services to the City Mission, which, at the time, was moving the shop from Taupo Quay into Victoria Ave. That was five years ago.
"I've been there ever since. I help look after the shop on Monday and Friday afternoons and I open and close up on Saturday. I keep the shop tidy, listen to the entertainment from the customers and vice versa — we have some good laughs. I work in the big sorting rooms out the back and my main area is linen."
Ellen says there is sometimes an overwhelming amount of linen and sometimes there's not much of it at all. She looks for the best pieces, puts a price on them and puts them out into the shop.
"I always wanted to work in retail when I was younger but I felt I didn't have the confidence and the skills to use a cash register. Today it's different: you just push a button and it tells you what to do."
She says volunteering has done wonders for her confidence and recommends it to anyone, including young people looking to gain skills before moving on to the next phase of their life.
Volunteers are always needed at Zest for Mission.
"Most of us do two to four hours each shift," says Ellen. "I've enjoyed it. People say you don't get paid as a volunteer, but you do — you get paid in job satisfaction."
She says the only pay she needs is seeing people happy with their purchase and the happy conversation they've had with the volunteer; seeing the shop clean and tidy and the personal satisfaction felt at the end of the shift.
"We get a lot of comments about how tidy the shop is, and we try and keep it spacious because we get people on mobility scooters and wheelchairs coming through. We leave room between aisles for them to move."
Volunteering is a big part of Ellen's life and even on her days off she's looking forward to getting back to work.