A new video highlights the impact a Mennonite Central Committee thrift shop in southerwestern Manitoba has on its surrounding community.
Volunteer Manitoba, an organization that supports the voluntary sector in the keystone province, recently selected the Brandon MCC Thrift Shop as one of three volunteer programs to highlight at its annual awards dinner.
Although the awards dinner has been postponed until later this year, Volunteer Manitoba posted a short video about the thrift shop on YouTube earlier this week.
You can watch it below.
In the video, store manager Shelly Burrows talks about how the shop not only supports MCC’s work around the world, but also how it helps families locally.
She also touches on the transformative nature volunteering can have when she talks about one young girl who came into the store to work.
The young girl came from a difficult background and had low self-esteem. Some of the store’s senior volunteers from Mennonite churches took an interest in her and “sort of mothered her like a grandma.”
Burrows saw how the young girl blossomed as a result.
“I watched her get a job, and she’s been able to hold it down and become steady at that, and that was [because] a team of volunteers [mentored] her,” Burrows says.
MCC’s thrift shops across Canada and the United States generated an average of more than $1.7 million a month in 2019.
These shops are temporarily shuttered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Do you have a video we should see? Email submit@canadianmennonite.org.
Related story:
Thrift shopper, peacebuilder
More videos:
Watch: A pro skier’s advice for his son
Watch: A virtual Mennonite Easter choir
Watch: Anabaptists worldwide respond to COVID-19
Watch: Three songs to bring you solace
Watch: Worship led by MC Canada leadership
Pat, a volunteer at the Brandon MCC Thrift Shop, tells her story in a new video about the shop produced by Volunteer Manitoba and CTV. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
Add new comment
Canadian Mennonite invites comments and encourages constructive discussion about our content. Actual full names (first and last) are required. Comments are moderated and may be edited. They will not appear online until approved and will be posted during business hours. Some comments may be reproduced in print.