Op-shop Bargain for All

Former SIGNS assistant editor Jim Rabe looks at what a group of dedicated volunteers are doing at a Gold Coast op-shop.

How many people does it take to operate an “op-shop”? According to Mary Stojanovic, manager of the ADRA care op-shop on Railway Street, Southport, 45. They’re all volunteers, who take turns staffing the facility.

But is that enough? “Yes,” Mary responds, “although we’re always on the lookout for more to train. We like to think the volunteers need us as much as we need them. Retirees, especially, are better off when they’re involved.

Then there’s not so much room for loneliness.” Mary’s shop—actually it’s owned and operated by the Southport Seventh-day Adventist church—is on the fringe of the CBD of prosperous Southport, Qld. It was begun about seven years ago by Ela, Beryl and Jack Gard. Jack has a workshop nearby, where he restores furniture for sale in it, and business is flourishing.

Mary says the operation gets busier all the time as it’s in between the business and residential sections of the city.

“We have clients who return again and again, and we’re grateful for them,” says Mary. People come back because, they say, it’s not what you expect an opshop to be like—freshly decorated, the clothing, general merchandise and furniture are good quality and, best of all, the welcoming, friendly attitude of the volunteer staff.

The volunteers come from across the community, Mary says. “It’s a community effort, and all are welcome. And [as churchgoers], it’s a great opportunity to witness for your faith while supporting the wider community.”

Phil Cameron is the shop treasurer.

He’s generous in his praise of the broader ADRA care organisation, which, through various Seventh-day Adventist churches across Australia and New Zealand, provides emergency care and accommodation in times of large-scale natural disasters, such as the NSW bushfire emergency last summer, or clothing and food parcels to needy families at a more personal level.

ADRA care’s unique financial structure and minimal overheads means big dollars available for disbursement. “We bank all proceeds,” he explains, “and disburse all interest each year to deserving charities. We seem to give away as much as we make, but retain enough capital to be viable.” Recipients last year included Sanctuary Seven (a women’s refuge from domestic violence) as the main beneficiary. “We also assist the Gold Coast Family Support Group and the Make a Wish Foundation.

“In addition to these worthy enterprises we gave to the New South Wales Bush Fire Appeal and, as the need arises, to the ADRA Fire Appeal. [ADRA is the acronym for Adventist Development and Relief Agency, an international organisation.]”

Our modern society, with its densely populated areas, is susceptible to emergencies— I’ve mentioned bushfires—but another incident was a fire in a nearby nursing home. On such occasions, we give clothing and necessities. We keep plenty of stock on hand because we’re among the first agencies the government turns to.

“Second, it seems that there’s an increasing interest in bartering—of helping each other to obtain needed items in exchange for something we can give. We help to facilitate that process.”

In the ADRA care op-shop, the bond uniting the happy group of volunteers is strengthened by expressions of gratitude from the many they’ve helped. In giving—and receiving—the secrets of greatness reside. They’re not ever found alone.

As Inez Frack* wrote: Because somebody cared today/ I knew God’s love was strong;/ I found new hope to bear my cross/ And courage for my song./ My neighbor’s heart conveyed the love/ I needed for my pain;/ And happily I felt the faith/ To dream and smile again.

These words express the feelings of volunteers everywhere, of whom those at the Railway Street ADRA care opshop are but an example. Volunteers everywhere.

* In Guideposts Treasury of Hope ( 1972).

What goes around comes around . . .

W hy donate to a charity? Rick Hamlin, a freelance writer living in New York City, gives a clue in this excerpt, lifted from the pages of Daily Guideposts (1996).

“Recently we had occasion to get rid of a large, almost new double stroller. I debated the options. I had been reading the parable of the talents and how God’s wrath was reserved for the servant who did nothing with the money left him.

What was the best way to deal with the situation? As always, my wife Carol had the last word: ‘Give it away.’ “A week later we were at church, when a good friend who’d just had a second child, rolled in with the nicest looking turquoise double stroller.

Suspicious of its origins, Carol asked her where she had gotten it. ‘You’ll never guess,’ our friend said. ‘I’d given up hope of buying one when Mother found this at a thrift shop.’ “ Not bad for a multiplication of talents , I thought. A charitable gift from us, a bargain for a grandmother, a modest sum for a thrift shop and the

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