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This fall will mark the 40th year of a thrift store being run by Mennonite Community Services in Aylmer.

Aylmer Thrift Store Manager Dave Guenther and MCS Executive Director Eddy Rempel recently sat down for an interview with the Express to discuss the store and its role in the East Elgin community.

The store opened in November of 1982, Eddy said only a few short months after the concept of it was first discussed in June of that year. In the months in between, a committee raised the required funds and prepare for a grand opening.

Different churches worked together, with some members making public pledges, which then inspired others to donate. And then cucumber farmers said that once they had filled a contract, if workers wanted to donate time to pick excess crop, then the farmers would donate the cucumbers. And with enough fundraising, they were able to secure a loan from Mennonite Central Committee to purchase the building.

Dave said he was really inspired by that story of how the store was started. “The great thing about it is the connection of multiple different Mennonite churches coming together and understanding that there’s mutual benefit to working together.”

Since then, they’ve been a local hub, collecting donated merchandise and selling it at low cost. A portion of the funds go to MCC Ontario, but the largest share goes to MCS. Eddy said, “The majority of it supports local programming that we do.”

Some of those programs included community services, the low German radio station, settlement services and adult education.

The store at 300 Talbot Street West in Aylmer is open Monday through Saturday, with donations being accepted only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. They had previously accepted donations every day, but staggered donation days was a procedure that started in the pandemic that Dave expected would continue, at least in the short term. It helped to keep things moving and as orderly as possible in sorting. He remarked, “We’re just constantly receiving. It’s a constant bombardment of more and more things coming in and we don’t get to the end to do all the sorting through.”

Aylmer Thrift Store had six employees, while the rest of the help came from a large roster of community volunteers, with around 80 on the active volunteer list right now. The roster of volunteers helps to receive, classify, sort, quality check, prepare and stock the items in the store.

He said the goal is for the staff the be

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