Hospice Whanganui calls on volunteers with time and skills to share

Volunteer Viv Anderson, shop manager Michelle Old, fundraising manager Kelly Scarrow, volunteers Frances Kirk-Moore and Robyn Allen-Dick at the Whanganui East Hospice Shop. Photo / Bevan Conley

Without volunteers providing the good oil to keep things running smoothly some of Hospice Whanganui's operations would stall.

There are three hospice retail shops in Whanganui that provide around 30 per cent of the funding shortfall needed to provide a free palliative care service to the community. Around 165 volunteers are needed to keep the shops in Gonville, Victoria Ave and Whanganui East running.

Hospice's fundraising, communications and marketing manager Kelly Scarrow said some valuable volunteers have had to take a break or give up their service during the Covid-19 Delta outbreak.

"Some have health conditions that mean they are compromised or they can't wear masks for very long because of respiratory conditions," Scarrow said.

"It's been hard to lose good people and we really need some new people who have skills to share and want to support hospice."

Volunteers at the Whanganui East Hospice Shop said they found the work extremely rewarding and looked forward to being at the shop each week.

Robyn Allen-Dick and Frances Kirk-Moore both drive in from their homes at Kai Iwi Beach to work four-hour shifts one day a week and both missed it during the lockdown in August.

"I also had to take six weeks off after an injury and I was so pleased to come back," Allen-Dick said.

"I have been volunteering here for nine and a half years and I love it. I really like art and china so I work in this part of the shop and enjoy doing the displays."

The volunteers said they were overstocked since the lockdown and thought a lot of people had been having clearouts while they were at home. The quality of donated items was very high, they said.

"I'm relatively new,' Kirk-Moore said. "I've been working here for three years and I look forward to my weekly shift. We are made to feel very appreciated and have great managers."

Michelle Old recently moved from managing hospice's boutique shop in Victoria Ave to replace previous East shop manager Tina Simpson.

"We have had to put a stop on accepting donations while we move some of the existing stock," Old said.

Volunteers could use their existing skill sets or work in the areas that interested them most, she said.

As well as counter sales, there were opportunities in sorting goods, cleaning homeware, checking appliances, lifting and carrying, handyperson repairs, driving, ironing and shop displays.

Viv Anderson is a new volunteer working in the clothing section of the shop and said she ended up doing extra hours on her first day because she enjoyed it so much.

"I'm profoundly deaf and recently had a cochlear implant," she said.

"I wasn't sure how I would cope with talking to customers while we're wearing masks because I'm so used to lip reading. It has been a good test for the implant because I have discovered that I can understand people without needing to lip read."

Old said it was great to have Anderson on board and more new volunteers were needed, including green-fingered ones. Times and frequency were flexible.

"As you can see, we have a growing plant section," she said.

"We welcome new volunteers with open arms while practising safe distancing of course."

Scarrow said Hospice Whanganui received only partial government funding and the rest of the money required to run services came from fundraising.

Interested volunteers can visit one of the hospice shops and talk to a manager or call Scarrow on 027 304 2126.