“Oh wow!!” and “How wonderful!”, was heard throughout the evening as the Rotary Club of Boorowa presented more than $12,000 to eight local community organisations.
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February 23 was a very special milestone for the Club and particularly for the Boorowa Community Op Shop committee and volunteers.
The Op Shop began trading at the end of July 2017 with three key aims in mind.
To help the environment by reducing landfill and encouraging re-cycling of useful items to new homes; by delivering a community service; and (ideally) creating a surplus of funds that can go to support local community organisations.
In the first six months of trading, the Op Shop met all these goals and more, expanding into the premises adjacent to the shop to increase storage and display space.
The result of this success is that eight Boorowa charity organisations received donation cheques, handed to them by the President of the Rotary Club, Stephen Meere:
- Boorowa and District Historical Society
- Boorowa Hospital Auxiliary
- Boorowa Lions Club
- Boorowa Rural Fire Service Brigade
- Country Education Foundation – Boorowa Branch
- Rotary Club of Boorowa
- RSPCA
- Vinnies Conference - Boorowa
These organisations were not chosen randomly, but were a direct result of volunteer hours.
Each volunteer in the Op Shop nominated a charity (or several charities) to be a recipient of the Op Shop’s success.
The time contributed by each volunteer for their charity of choice was tallied and this tally was used to divide up the surplus funds from the first six months of trading.
“The list of organisations receiving funds will not always be the same, nor will the amount they receive be static,” Committee Chairperson, Rotarian Julie Poplin said.
“As more Volunteers come on board, other organisations may be included - and of course, the income in the future depends on continuing to receive quality donations and customers continuing to buy.”
Julie gave a big thank you to the volunteers, “Whether they have contributed 1 hour or 100 hours, or are yet to start. Your willingness to be involved and support the project is why it has been so successful. Thank You”.
She also thanked the local businesses who have provided support including landlord Dermott McGrath who has been a great advocate for the Shop.
Councillor Wendy Tuckerman was at the presentation and said that she was so proud of how the Boorowa community supported the Op Shop and raised so much money for local organisations.
“This is a great project, and I commend the Rotary Club of Boorowa for taking on this wonderful initiative,” she said.
Boorowa and District Historical Society President, Joy Nelson said, “It would be a struggle for the Society to raise this much money on our own. What an innovative way of helping local community organisations”.
For more information about volunteering or donating phone:
Op Shop Chairperson – Julie Poplin – 0427 853 199
Committee Members: -
- Jayne Apps – 0428 622 755
- Lyn Diskon – 0427 900 313
- Mike Ward - 0408 986 727
- Alan Banks – 0427 004 245
- Owen Rogerson – 0447 676 498
The Boorowa Community Op Shop is found at 113 Pudman Street and is open 10:00am to 4:00pm on Thursday and Friday and again 10:00am – 1:00pm on Saturday.
