The shop's 50th anniversary this week was marked with volunteers old and new from Levin's Uniting Church getting together to celebrate and reflect on their achievements for pregnant women and their families.

In the beginning

Founding member Marie Vaney says volunteers who started the op shop came from the town's Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian and Anglican churches.

"At the time Levin had a healthy religious climate so church members were approached to help set it up to offer an alternative for young families.

"We received training from Massey University to learn about non-judgemental telephone communications. We'd help with transport to and from appointments and on occasion we'd do a little bit of cleaning for them."

Vaney says that, when volunteers were helping young mums and their babies, others in the households they were living in often needed help too.

"There was so much people needed - like clothing, furniture and other items, so we decided that what we needed was an op shop - and two years later, in October 1974, it was formed."

She says the op shop was initially called the One Two Three Shop. Then other businesses started "popping up" with similar names, so the volunteers decided to change it to the Opportunity Shop.

Vaney, the op shop committee's first secretary, helped with the shop for almost 20 years until 1995 when she moved to Wellington with her family. After retiring nine years ago, she went back to Levin and is volunteering at the op shop again.

"It's the people that brought me back. It's a nice welcoming place where we help without judgement."

Treasurer Margaret Burnell is another long-standing volunteer - she started helping many years ago.

"I came here in 1991, was put in the treasurer role and here I am still. I think it's good to have something to get you out of the house and get on with it."

Yvonne Leyland, the shop manager for 12 years, says the anniversary celebration highlighted an important milestone.

"I think its incredible. In this day and age, there is a big need for more volunteers and I feel very blessed that we have, and have had, so many wonderful people helping us" she says.

• The New Zealand Herald

Every year, Waipa residents send the equivalent of 16 shipping containers full of clothes to landfills.

However, the Council's Waste Minimisation advisor Shelley Wilson says op shop bus tours offer punters the chance to check out some outlets they've never visited before - while reducing their environmental footprint and saving money.

A resident who went on a tour last year says it was a great day out and she picked up "second hand gems" and valuable tips from experts along the way.

Since then, she says she's been "inspired to do laundry and mending for a local op shop, which helps put funds back into the community".

Men also enjoy the fun as - like women - they also like collectable and vintage objects plus good-value clothes.

"In our teens we thought it was cool to dress from the Army Surplus stores and op shops - that hasn't changed" one says.

"I like jackets and am always on the hunt for a bargain.

"Eight of my 11 jackets are second-hand and I have two coats, one second-hand.

"Jeans are also good to hunt for, especially deals on Levis.

"In the vintage field, my treasures include a Levi shirt for $5 and a 1968 tie from a Kings Road, Chelsea, London fashion store owned by The Beatles for 50c." (sic)

Mounting clothes' mountains

Textiles from unwanted clothing are mounting enormously. To combat the dumping of clothes, the Council's "Slow Fashion September" contribution includes promoting sustainable fashion and offering free courses where people can get advice about how to curate a low-waste, low-cost wardrobe or take part in a sewing repair workshop.

Fast fashion impacts not only the environment but has created concerning consumer behaviour with alarming global statistics, says Wilson.

Globally:

• one in three women consider a garment "old" after one wear
• on average 80% of the items in our wardrobes are never worn
• the fashion industry is responsible for 40 million tonnes of textile items going to waste each year

"It's important we all do our part, even if it's just adding one or two new practices into our daily routines" Wilson says.

"These changes may seem small, but the collective impact is huge for our community and for passing sustainable behaviour to our kids."

Source

• NZ Herald

It appears that while a few don't know the difference between a landfill and a charity Op Shop, the Vinnies in Hamilton say the good outweighs the bad by a country mile.

Last month TVNZ ran an episode of their documentary series Gutsful about dumping rubbish on OP Shops.

The promo said "We uncover some un-charitable dumping in the Waikato, where Hospice donations have gone to the dogs."

"Mike from St Vinnies has had a gutsful of sorting through sex toys and soiled goods."

But Rolton told the Waikato Times "The really good stuff that people know we can recycle, that's 99 per cent of it."

"We don't get a big pile of useless things, we get the occasional useless thing,"

The Hamilton St Vincent de Paul FaceBook page gives a good picture of the scope and variety of the things that people are doing to support the Society's works.

The Vinnies in Hamilton provide food parcels for families, school lunches for students and run a soup kitchen two nights a week.

"For just food alone, if you want a number, we feed everyone in Hamilton city once a year, and that's growing. Rolton​ said.

"On a dollar value, we put out $15,000 of food into the community every week."

"Our shops are basically our fundraisers because we don't get Government funding, so we have to survive on our own money."

Others, is seems are not so fortunate. Earlier this year the Manawatu Standard ran a piece about the Methodist Social Services Goodwill.

Manager Lyal Brenton told the Standard that that the accumulated junk left outside the city's charity op-shops was estimated to cost the sector $70,000 a year in disposal fees.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz