Threads – Everyone Belongs at MCC Thrift Shops

Episode transcript:

Kyle Rudge (00:02):

It begins with a single thread woven through other thread, and then another and another until we have a single piece of fabric. That fabric is stretched, cut and stitched together with another, just like it. This process is repeated over and over and over until we have a beautiful tapestry that all began with a single thread. Welcome to an MCC Threads, where we look closely at how our stories in Manitoba weave together with the stories of MCC and its partners around the world. Christmas is in full swing at MCC Thrift across Manitoba.

Shelly Burrows (00:58):

We're actually almost sold out of Christmas. I would say we're both three quarters of the way through what we had for Christmas. So you wanna get down here sooner versus later if you want your Christmas stuff. But new stuff comes in every day.

Kyle Rudge (01:10):

Shopping secondhand for Christmas is a growing trend across Canada. Did you know that when surveyed 78.8% of MCC thrift newsletter subscribers would feel very good about receiving a secondhand gift for Christmas? But I digress. We're not here to talk about Christmas and thrift, but instead thrift and the communities that can form around it.

Shelly Burrows (01:32):

I'm Shelly Burrows. I'm the manager at the Brandon MCC Thrift Shop in Brandon, Manitoba.

Kyle Rudge (01:38):

First, some context about Shelly and Brandon MCC Thrift.

Kristine Heinrichs (01:42):

Brandon MCC Thrift Shop is far from other thrift shops in proximity.

Kyle Rudge (01:47):

To give that context is Kristine Heinrichs. She's the MCC Thrift Coordinator for Manitoba and works out of the MCC office on Bannatyne in Winnipeg, but she's been in thrift for a while.

Kristine Heinrichs (01:58):

I got my foot in the door of MCC Thrift in 2017 as a receiver and donations processor and clothing, et cetera, in Abbotsford, B.C.

Kyle Rudge (02:08):

She's been the Thrift Coordinator for Manitoba since 2019. Back to our Brandon MCC Thrift context.

Kristine Heinrichs (02:15):

It is the second-largest community in the province. And so it's a diverse community. It is one that represents sort of a university hub there in Brandon. There's a lot of newcomers, there's young folks. The thrift shop itself is definitely a reflection of the diversity in the community. Brandon MCC Thrift Shop has some volunteers who travel up to two hours to come and volunteer in the shops. And so there's a lot of people driving a long way to spend time in Brandon MCC Thrift Shop, and that is a reflection of the significance of the culture in that community.

Kyle Rudge (03:00):

Brandon MCC Thrift is located at 414 Pacific Avenue in Brandon. Just as you come into Brandon, go through the big, gorgeous valley. One of those first streets on your left or right, depending on where you come in, will be Pacific Avenue. That's where they are.

Shelly Burrows (03:15):

This is called a mid-size shop, so it's not overly big, but we did just expand so our shopfront where you'd be shopping is just over 8,100 square feet.

Kyle Rudge (03:25):

As for what Shelly is like as a manager, Kristine was more than willing to weigh in.

Kristine Heinrichs (03:29):

She's someone who invests time and energy and strategy in her thrift shop and values the representation of the community that she's in, in what that thrift shop looks like. She's someone who learns from her customers and volunteers and is curious about growth. Yeah, while she's one of these longer-term managers, she exemplifies management that stays open and, you know, is sort of nimble to the changing needs and realities in her volunteer community. So she's a collaborative, open-minded volunteer manager and operational expert. And we're really blessed to have Shelly in our network.

Kyle Rudge (04:12):

With such a diverse community in Brandon, it makes sense that that diversity is reflected in the volunteers. And with that diversity comes some challenges in understanding what is the best fit for every person. When Shelly was first hired, she was faced with one volunteer who was not like all the others and needed to find the best fit for them.

Shelly Burrows (04:29):

This is a traditional Mennonite store with Mennonite workers. That's all it had. But it had one volunteer who was working and they had, they allowed her to stay because he had some empathy for her. Probably felt a little sorry for her. They wanted her to do something, but her job was, she stood in the corner and she just looked out and she didn't do anything. And I said “Can we not do something more with her?” And they said, well, they didn't know what she could do. So I went around the store trying to find something more for her to do, and then gradually it expanded from there. Because she ended up, she did start doing a lot of things. She was actually the best person to telling people to not play with the toys and stuff like that. She could hold to that fact and she really started enjoying her volunteering here. And her mom was really impressed with how much she enjoyed volunteering here. And then I said “We need to expand and I need to know the route that the – ”, I asked the board like, “– what do you wanna do here? Do you wanna stay within the church? Which we can do, but you're getting less and less volunteers, or we can expand, and we could use this as our mission ground.” And they wanted to expand and grow. And so we decided to grow and from there, then I started finding volunteers. And there's something somebody can do here, I'm sure. And so yes, we have five people in a wheelchair. Well, and then we have some who have braces. We have some who use walkers. We have some people who don't have use of their hands, and that was a trick to find things. We had a person here who was deaf, that was interesting. Our crew loved learning sign language to work with them.

Kyle Rudge (06:03):

Finding a place to fit, to belong, to feel a sense of community and to do something of value together is important, especially for the vulnerable and marginalized in our communities.

Shelly Burrows (06:16):

But then we also have volunteers who are older or younger or needed job skills or Samaritan House asked me if, Age is an Asset,* could they come here to learn some job skills? And then ACC (Assiniboine Community College) asked me if they could send students here to learn job skills. And then we have people who are working off fines. And so making them feel important when they're here too. Not just that they're working off fines, but you know, you're an important human being. You can give back to the community. How can you give back to the community? How can you be a part of the community? And if you don't have a disability, you are an important part to the community too, right? And whether you belong to the church or you don't belong to the church, you're all God's people. You're all a part of the community, so how can we use you all? So that's sort of been my philosophy and how can each person mentor to somebody else and encourage them to grow. And in turn I had a volunteer here who she said, "You know, at first Shelly, I thought you were a little crazy inviting all kinds of different people here. But now I realize, I just feel so blessed being able to help somebody to take the time out and slow down in my daily tasks." Because Mennonites, I don't know if you notice this, they're very productive people and once they get to task, they like to do their task and just do it and not be interrupted. And she found working with her volunteer who has some challenges and stuff, but just loves being valued and has since been valued just loves working with her and they've developed a relationship. You know, they've become friends, and she loves mentoring her, but she said, "Shelly, I would never have thought that in the beginning and now I can't think not working with somebody and helping them along and encouraging them and stuff." She says sometimes it's difficult and it is. But the rewards are great.

Kristine Heinrichs (08:08):

Manitoba's a diversifying province. We're a hub of tons of newcomers and even these smaller communities all over Manitoba are experiencing this diversification of their communities as people come in and resettle in areas and new immigrants come in or students from all over the world. And it means that the communities are changing in what they look like. But the thrift shops are also changing. There's an aging volunteer base across Canada, in Manitoba that looks like a lot of newcomers, you know, being part of MCC Thrift in their positions, in their hiring and their volunteer bases. What does diversity bring to MCC Thrift? I think hiring diversely exemplifies MCC's missional value of peacebuilding. And peacebuilding isn't sort of the absence of conflict when we have multiple cultures and languages all coming into one space, there can be this conflict that arises or questions around values or around who we are, but it is a commitment to cooperation. When I think about diversification and thrift, it's, yeah, it's definitely an exemplification of peacebuilding

Kyle Rudge (09:30):

That diversification of thrift is important, not just in the customers that come into our shops, but also in the staff and the volunteers that serve at them. Part of making that diversity possible is community partnerships. I talked with Kristine and asked just how important some of those community partnerships are and how they come about.

Kristine Heinrichs (09:49):

Community partnerships are essential to MCC Thrift. I would say over time community partnerships have become essential to MCC Thrift as a way that volunteers are fed into volunteer programming within MCC Thrift. Those community partnerships are often initiated by the management team or the volunteer coordinator within the thrift shop. Community partnerships could be with an ESL group, it could be homeschooling groups, it could be with a local high school. Sometimes it's people learning work skills, adult learning. The more diverse the better. And often people gain skills within the thrift shop, but also the thrift shop gains long-term volunteers and even sometimes staff through these community connections.

Kyle Rudge (10:38):

Often these community partnerships end up being a lot like a snowball rolling down a hill. Once the momentum starts, we see it grow within our thrift shops exponentially, and it's inspiring to see and we love it.

Kristine Heinrichs (10:51):

Two years ago, Darryl Loewen and I went to this volunteer appreciation dinner and we sat with a couple from Iran and I remember them leaving and looking around the room and thinking like, wow, this is such a monolith of one people group. It could be, you know, the time of the event, but this really diverse neighborhood in Elmwood, in KMTS could have so much community integration. And two years later when I went back to the same event, there were like two Iranian tables and I was like, whoa. They've gone out. They've recruited their friends. Some of them are staff people now at MCC and at Kildonan MCC Thrift Shop. And just seeing the diversity of the way that people, if the space is inclusive and inviting, will integrate their friends not only as a way of, you know, English language learning but also like the value that they've brought to the organization in the skills they have that often aren't recognized as they come into Canada because they don't have that Canadian experience. Us recruiting in those really skilled volunteers, giving them the language and inviting them to stay and develop our community to make it better has been to our benefit and I think to theirs as well.

Kyle Rudge (12:19):

Another story starts at a constituency orientation for migration resettlement. And they wanted Kristine to come and speak about volunteer opportunities for newcomers.

Kristine Heinrichs (12:26):

At lunch, I sat down with this group of like, this constituency group based in Niverville. I was just talking to them about thrift and we were having lunch and they said, yeah, they'd sponsored like multiple groups of newcomers and that one of their sponsees was actually the receiver at Niverville MCC Thrift Shop. And I was like, wow, that's a great story of MCC Thrift ultimately funds MCC programs internationally and locally. And for someone who's been sponsored by MCC Thrift to be working for MCC sort of giving back to the same program that brought him over is, is meaningful and impactful, I think.

Kyle Rudge (13:07):

This year, hundreds of volunteers, dedicated staff and compassionate Manitobans across the province came together to work, donate and shop at MCC Thrift Shops. Together you've raised over $4.2 million to support families in vulnerable circumstances locally and across the world. Your support of MCC Thrift helps bring help, hope, and reminding people their needs are not forgotten. This Christmas may you experience that same hope as you celebrate God's gift to us all. And if you're looking for a gift that can change lives this Christmas through MCC's Christmas giving guide, you can choose from meaningful gifts like goats, clean water or books of peace to help people across the world and you'll receive a charitable donation receipt. Your gift will bring comfort and joy to someone in need in one of the 45 countries where MCC works. To shop for your gifts of hope, visit mcc.org/christmas. I'm Kyle Rudge and this is MCC Threads. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and have a wonderful New Year.

*Age Is an Asset is an employment readiness program designed to equip adults (ages 21-64) with essential skills and training to assist in entering or returning to the workforce.