The energetic 77-year-old Dallington resident has been a volunteer shop assistant at St Vincent De Paul’s Stanmore Rd store in Richmond for the past 10 years.
“It’s like family here. A few of them call me Vinnie’s mum because I’ve been here for so long,” she said.
Sharon is a retired mental health caregiver who lives on her own.
She looks forward to her four weekly shifts at Vinnies.
“We have a lot of fun.”
But the increasing cost of living was hitting some people really hard, she said.
“It’s the state of the world isn’t it? Take me back to the ‘50s any day.”
Sharon said they were seeing a lot of new customers recently, from a variety of backgrounds. Clothing was the most popular item.
She said op-shops like Vinnies that sell quality items at affordable prices play a vital role in the community.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul operates five shops in Canterbury: Richmond, Papanui, Hornby, Ashburton and Timaru.
A direct service not-for-profit, it distributed more than $1.1 million of welfare in the region last year, including $792,000 of food parcels.
Sharon said she started volunteering at Vinnies shortly after she retired. She had visited her cousin who worked there.
“The manager mentioned to me that they were looking for volunteers. I thought to myself,
I just can’t sit around all day doing nothing, so I accepted the offer.”
Sharon said it was great getting to know the regular customers.
“A lot of them are on their own, so I think they like the company. Some come in every day.”
Sharon also volunteers at New Brighton Museum on Wednesday afternoons, and used to be a Meals on Wheels driver in the 1970s.
She also mentors a 14-year-old girl recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and her younger sister, helping to take some pressure off their mother.
“Unfortunately, their dad died from cancer, and their brother has brain cancer.”
A keen swimmer, Sharon takes the two sisters on trips and swimming every week.
She said she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
“I’ll stay (at Vinnies) as long as I can.”
- For information about volunteering at St Vincent De Paul, email national@svdp.org.nz
