A shortage of volunteers is having a profound impact on the fundraising efforts of a children’s charity thrift store in Steveston.
On Wednesday, the SOS Children’s Village store, which opened on Moncton Street almost 25 years ago, had to randomly close its doors for the first time in 15 years.
Store manager Barbara High said the thrift store — which raises funds to help run a permanent family home or “SOS Children’s Village” for children who have lost their parents or can no longer live with them — is struggling to attract a fresh crop of volunteers and is unable to find a new assistant manager.
And High fears that, unless the situation changes soon, the store, which is open seven days a week, will continue to leak much-needed revenue and she’ll be forced to unexpectedly turn the sign to closed more often.
“This has been a problem for the last year or so and has gradually been getting worse,” said High, who, as well as running the Kerrisdale store, is responsible for volunteer recruitment and carries out public speaking events for the charity.
“The store is still very busy with donations and customers, but our volunteers are starting to age out and we need new people very badly.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I guess there will be more frequent closures.
“It’s resulting in a loss of revenue, which will only get worse and more closures will mean people will lose faith that we’re going to be open and stop coming.”
High said Wednesday’s closure and any future ones will undoubtedly have a “direct impact on our ability to raise funds,” with the store grossing about $26,000 to $28,000 each month.
“We’ve been trying to find an assistant manager and we’ve spent quite a lot of money on advertising, but we’re not getting good applicants,” explained High.
“It’s good, charitable work, but I understand it’s not very glamorous.
“We have around 60 volunteers in total. It sounds like a lot, but they’re not all available all of the time and we need four for the morning and four for the afternoon. I’m totally stretched.”
Anyone willing to help the charity should go online to SOSbc.org or call the store at 604-274-8866.
Operating in 133 countries, SOS Childrens Village is an organization creating programs and opportunities to help vulnerable children achieve their potential.
The only “village” built in Canada thus far is in Surrey.
The inspiration behind the village was Richmond’s Lois Bouchard, who founded SOS Children’s Village BC in 1986.
