If you haven’t visited the St Michael’s Hospice shop on Cinque Ports Street recently, when you do, you will notice a difference. I dropped in there last week and met Lauren Davies and her ladies who between them have transformed the interior. What attracted me to go in was the fabulous window display, which celebrated Chinese New Year as it was very artistically created, eye-catching and colourful.
Once inside, you will see how the shop is now light, well-organised, with items priced realistically and the whole shop floor now flows. In the back room is a dedicated children’s area with games, toys, books and clothing, all at affordable prices.
Quality donations are always key to the success of a charity, in addition to a happy team who work together. I met four lovely ladies who were rightly proud of the new look shop and there are plans to introduce new stock shortly, including furniture.
One recent donation was an oriental mice and Tudor Rose chess set, donated by a local lady who had treasured it for many years, but after downsizing, she no longer had space for it, so donated it to her local shop. At the time the donation arrived, the hospice window display was dedicated to the Chinese New Year celebrations so it seemed quite at home amongst the display.
Nobody could have anticipated the interest it generated, so much so, the decision was taken to sell it in the fairest but also the most exciting way. Lauren and Grace Denyer (who is currently covering Lauren’s maternity leave) decided to run a silent auction.
As always, the aim of the hospice is to generate as much money as possible whilst also making people aware of why they exist and what the hospice does. It is a charity but it is also a business and as the saying goes “every penny counts”.
The chess set is still currently displayed in the hospice window and the auction started on Wednesday, February 1. Lauren says : “If people would like to bid, they bring in their bid along with their name and contact number and it will be placed in a sealed box until the auction ends on Friday, February 10 at 4pm. The winner will be contacted at 5pm on Friday.”
The team hope to hold some more events like this in the future, not just for the hospice but for our local community of Rye and its surrounding villages. Good quality donations are always in demand, but please don’t leave them outside the shop, as anything left outside is automatically thrown away, so it just creates additional work and expense for the team to clear up. As the shop is open 6 days a week, there’s plenty of opportunity to drop donations into the shop.
Volunteers are always needed, so if you fancy being part of this ongoing success story just pop in and talk to Lauren and why not take something with you to donate to this very worthy cause and use the opportunity to buy your silent auction tickets too!
Image Credits: Nick Forman .