The second week of our Stepping Up volunteer series puts the spotlight on a beloved community hub that provides invaluable services: the Lady Minto Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop.
The Thrift Shop is a popular venue for island residents who want to donate or purchase good, usable clothing, shoes, books and a wide variety of special treasures. Sales provide the main source of revenue for the Lady Minto Hospital Auxiliary (LMHA).
Each year the auxiliary makes major grants to Lady Minto Hospital and to the Greenwoods Eldercare and Braehaven assisted living facilities for equipment and improvements that they need to enhance care and comfort of patients and residents. Auxiliary members also provide voluntary services at these facilities. As well, we have a new initiative to reach seniors at home.
Our Lady Minto Thrift Shop is becoming busier, not only with increases in sales but also by accepting very good in-kind donations. We need more volunteers to work in the shop and to receive and process incoming donations.
For more information, send an email to contact@lmhas.ca or phone the office at 250-931-3311 to leave a message.
Meet LMHA Thrift Shop volunteer Jackie Jensen!
Q. How long have you been volunteering with your group?
A. 31 years.
Q. What attracted you to this particular group?
A. I was browsing in the Thrift Shop when it was underneath Mouat’s when Betty Ann Caldwell, the then LMHA president, approached me and asked if I would like to volunteer. I said “yes,” and the rest is history.
Q. What role do you have now and what other roles have you had?
A. I am shift leader for the Wednesday morning shift and sit on the Thrift Shop Committee as communications person. Some of the things I have done, or still do, are secretary and publicity on the shop committee, created the Facebook page for the shop, sort donations, managed the children’s boutique, sort the donated eyeglasses and pass on the prescription ones to the Lions Club for third-world countries, train new volunteers, fix the jammed or broken barbing guns and ensure the coffee room is well stocked.
Q. What past experience have you had that has been helpful in your role(s)?
A. I have worked with the public in retail and alongside my husband Aino in the businesses we have owned.
Q. What do you like best about volunteering with your group?
A. I love the comradeship that develops amongst the volunteers and the fact that the funds from our work go towards helping support the various health-related facilities on the island.
Q. What is something that has surprised you or you did not expect?
A. That I would still be here 31 years later. I think what surprises me most is the volume and wide variety of items that we receive in donations.
Q. What are a few traits that would be helpful for potential volunteers to have?
A. A sense of commitment even though it is a volunteer job.
Q. How long have you lived on Salt Spring Island?
A. 35 years.
Q. How else might islanders know you?
A. I worked at the Sears Catalogue office from 1992 to 1995. Some may know me as the voice on the phone of our business, Salt Spring Bottled Water, the first on-island bottled water company, from 1991 to 2006.
Q. In a nutshell, why would you recommend volunteering with your group?
A. It’s fun. You meet new people. It provides a service to the community and helps support our health care facilities.
Salt Spring non-profit groups wanting to participate in the Stepping Up series should contact Driftwood editor Gail Sjuberg at news@gulfislandsdriftwood.com or 250-537-9933.