Birthday celebration atSave the Children Shop

“Is it really a year since we moved to Wellington Street? Just shows how much we have been enjoying ourselves,” said Pearl, the Shop Leader.

Certainly the first year has been fantastic and the comments from customers have been very positive. One lady couldn’t believe she was in a charity shop because the clothes were so nice.

As Pamela, who volunteers on Thursday afternoons, said, “The reason we have had such a good year was because Ballymena folk supported us by donating clothing and bric-a-brac and then lots of them came in to buy! And as for the response to the Haiti Appeal – it was unbelievable. Everyone was so generous. We just can’t thank everyone enough.”

“The shop is run totally by volunteers and, as with all voluntary organizations, Save the Children needs more volunteers. There are a variety of jobs to do from serving in the shop, dressing the window to arranging displays and we are constantly looking for more ways to generate more stock. During October and November, West Church Scout Troop kept us supplied with stock and we thank all the Scouts and their parents for their donations of clothes, toys, books and bric-a-brac,” said Muriel one of the volunteers.

Profits from the shop are essential to fund the many projects Save the Children run in over 52 countries. From feeding stations to vaccinations, schools and health projects, providing shelters and the tracing service after disasters all this costs money and the Ballymena shop volunteers are determined to increase their takings so even more children can be saved!

As Pearl told us, “We can only do that with the support of the people in Ballymena and surrounding districts. Please, please keep donating goods for us to sell – if you can’t get into the shop to leave items, just ring on 028 2563 7670, leave your name and telephone number and one of our volunteers will ring you and arrange to pick up the goods. If you belong to an organization or if a group of friends want to form a collection point, again one of our volunteers will arrange to pick everything up from you. And if you can spare 3 hours a week to help in the shop just call in! We would be delighted to talk to you about becoming a shop volunteer and we will try to answer any questions.”

Pamela pointed out the Save the Children logo and motto that sums up the efforts of the Ballymena shop best of all “WE Save the Children, WILL YOU?”