Coghill St Op Shop’s charitable journey
Located in an old workers’ cottage, Coghill St Op Shop is owned by Whitianga Community Services Trust (Whitianga Social Services).
Here, Wendy and her team of staff and 21 volunteers do an amazing job of sorting through all your kind donations to keep the shop stocked full of quality clothing, shoes, china, house-hold items, collectables, books, games and a whole plethora of other treasures and unusual items.
The team have all worked together for many years, the longest serving volunteer being Delle, who has been working at the shop for 23 years! They have seen many changes over the years but appreciate the particularly difficult time people are now facing and are proud and motivated to help support the community.
All the proceeds from the shop go directly back into this community as they fund all the services provided by Whitianga Social Services. These include:
- provision of free and low-cost room rental facilities for community groups such as Senior Net, MB Quilters, Korowai Weaving group, Weight Watchers, Lions and Church groups
- provision of rooms and facilities for health practitioners, counsellors, and clinics to offer their services to the community, such as Ear Health, Diabetes eye-screening clinic and Dementia Waikato.
Your support of the Op Shop also funds Social Services to provide the following free services:
- Foodbank
- Budgeting advice
- Counselling and Social Work
- Senior Support
- Provision of Youth Services and Youth Programmes
- Kaupapa Māori evenings
And don’t forget Chinwag Café – a friendly place to come and have a chat over morning tea and board games on a Friday morning.
The shop is full of a mixture of high quality and bargain items and you never know what you may find! We have had such a wide range of donations over the years, from clothes to clarinets!
Not all items received were meant to end up at the shop though. One husband donated his wife’s uncle’s crystal decanters from Scotland – luckily, they were found before being sold, saving both them and the marriage! A team member once found a Rolex watch in a dressing gown pocket – the owner of which forgot she had put it there for safekeeping! Another time a man came in to ask for his clothes back as his wife had donated all his fishing clothes!!
However, there are some guarantees – you will always find:
- a $1 stand: this is stocked weekly with china and other unsold treasures.
- a wide range of children’s clothing priced at $1 and $2
- a $2 rack of imperfect clothing.
Did you know that any item of men’s and women’s clothing donated from The Warehouse or Kmart is never more than $5, regardless of the item?
On the 15th of each month, there is a sale on men’s and women’s clothing.
The values held by the Trust extend to all members of the community, including our pets – inside the shop you can find a delicious range of jams and chutneys for sale, the proceeds from which are donated to Pet Refuge. This charity provides temporary shelter and care for pets affected by domestic violence, keeping them safe while their owners escape abuse. Some local members of our community have already benefited from the services of Pet Refuge.
The shop is open Monday to Saturday 9.30 am to 2 pm, so please call in and say hello to the team. Who knows, you may just find something you never knew you needed!
Why not join our team? We are currently looking for more volunteers to join us. If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, please call in and ask for Wendy. (click here)
We are currently collecting for our Community Event in September and we are always in need of good quality clothing and donations, so next time you have something you would like to donate, please think of us and your community.
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