November 2024 MCC Thrift on Kent, Kitchener Volunteer Newsletter
Keeping our valued volunteers informed
GM’s Corner
Hello, my friends,
As an American living in Canada, I love that I can celebrate multiple Thanksgivings—for me it becomes a “Thanksgiving Season.” While giving thanks is something we can do all year round, this is a special time for me to reflect and appreciate all the wonderful things that God has given. We are blessed to have a strong staff team. We have undergone a few changes recently:
• Welcome to Priya (Retail) and Bishal and Joel (Workroom) as full-time team members—we are happy to have them join the team.
• Tatiana and Bhavika (Retail) have joined us the team as part-time help for the Christmas season.
• Robin (Workroom) became a father, welcoming a new baby daughter, and he is out on parental leave until early January.
• Kiran (Workroom) has moved on. He will be travelling a bit to see Canada and then head back to his home country.
New volunteers
Welcome to the team!
• Alex (Workroom) has also left us. While he came to Canada due to the turmoil in Ukraine, his wife went to Denmark. The opportunity came to reunite there. We wish him joy and happiness. Change is one of the few things one can count on in life. We welcome those coming and we wish well those who move on.
We are blessed to have a strong volunteer team. I love seeing all your smiling faces, and I am so thankful that you share your gifts.
We are blessed to have a strong customer base and sales. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people we can help.
We are so blessed. While I keep this list focused on the store for brevity, God has blessed all of us more than we could ever know.
Take care, my friends, and enjoy the “season.”
Kent Buhrke
General Manager
MCC Thrift on Kent
Introducing our new volunteers who joined our team between September 15 and October 15!
• Mateo, Liam, Philip and Julian in Receiving
• Brenda and Ryan in Seasonal
• Shayan in Sports
• Maria, Jiyu, Claire, Nithya, Abby and Sakshee in Retail Fashion
• Elena and Chloe in Retail Store
Furtuna is our co-op student who will be here until mid-January. She comes every morning and works in various roles in the store and workroom, as well as helping Giselle with some projects.
We also welcomed two students, Xander and Melissa, who are coming to keep our kitchen clean and get ready for coffee time on Monday and Thursday mornings.
Thank you all for joining us! And thanks to the other volunteers for all they do to welcome new volunteers!
Bhavika and Tetiana are our seasonal retail clerks, working in the shop to help with the busyness of Christmas. They do merchandising, stocking, cleaning and tidying things into their correct location.
Bhavika is very happy to be back as part of our team. She says that the most important part of her role is that when customers are facing a problem, she helps them to get what they want or to answer their questions. She also really likes organizing and cleaning the merchandise and putting clothes in the proper way so the store looks clean and welcoming. She is very passionate about helping to organize the store and make it look great which will in the end increase our revenue.
Tetiana is happy to have a job because she has been looking for over a year. Tetiana loves working here because it is a great team— the greatest team she has seen in her life. She loves it that the staff believe in God and are working together to do good things. She also likes it that we sell things from all over the world, all together in one store. In the past she worked on machines, and she enjoys working with people. She loves to be busy and is very happy to be working with us.
MCC Coffee Talks
Thank you for all of you who came to the MCC Coffee Talks in September (Walking with People in Poverty) and October (Immigration and Resettlement). I hope you found them informative and are encouraged by all the amazing things MCCO does!
Christmas is coming
Do you have a knack for displaying merchandise, and can you pick up some extra shifts? We are looking for two or three extra people per day who will be solely focused on Christmas merchandise. Please let Jan or Giselle know if this interests you.
Talk Climate, Practice Peace
As part of our ongoing commitment to care for God’s creation, MCC is encouraging our supporters to talk about climate. Join us in talking about climate change with your congregation, community, family or friends! Sign up to receive tips and tools in your inbox on how to navigate differences and uncover shared beliefs and interests. Be a brave peacemaker: Talk climate, practice peace! Sign up today.
Training Active Bystanders Workshop
If you are a bystander witnessing a harmful situation, you have a choice to make. Learn how to interrupt harmdoing, generate positive actions by others and be more than a spectator through this important workshop. It is not an expectation of MCC Ontario for volunteers to step into unsafe or risky situations while volunteering. Please always seek out staff should these types of situations arise. The TAB training is to give tools for and reflections about everyday life situations you may come across to feel more equipped to know what to do.
Workshop options:
ONLINE - Wednesday, November 6th – 10:00am - 12:30pm
To register either click HERE or contact Holly McClement – hollymcclement@mcco.ca for support.
IN- PERSON - Thursday, November 7th – 1:30pm - 4:00pm (Only for those in the KW area—there is an inperson TAB training happening at 50 Kent on the 2nd floor)
To register either click HERE or contact Holly McClement – hollymcclement@mcco.ca for support. When you register, please use MCCVOLUNTEER in the payment section. This training is $25 for those who are not MCC staff or MCC volunteers. If you accidentally pay $25 for the training, please let me know and MCC will reimburse you.
Peace Buttons
We will have Peace buttons available for volunteers who wish to wear them this Remembrance Day. Check with a staff member to obtain one.
Give the Gift of Change
December is around the corner, and all of you at MCC Thrift know a thing or two about gearing up for Christmas! While you are all diligently processing and selling Christmas trees, ornaments, and other items that might make it into a stocking, we’d like to talk about two projects that make meaningful gifts this season.
Bees-ness is buzzing
Beekeeping is a sweet way to enhance the livelihoods of small holder farmers in Northern Karamoja, Uganda by diversifying their income sources through integrated sustainable food systems. In response to the increasing impacts of climate change and conflict, this project, coordinated by MCC’s partner Dynamic Agro Pastoral Development Organization (DADO), provides training on income-generating activities, marketing, village savings groups, livestock and beekeeping. The project will be implemented in Opotipot, Kachapangole, Kangole and Geremech parishes, targeting 1,800 women and 1,600 youth.
As part of the beekeeping team, Robert Loketo (pictured above) can harvest honey to use for his family or to sell. He also benefits by establishing the beehives in strategic places to keep his crops safe from wild animals, especially elephants who are frightened away by bees. $11 assists beekeepers in
buying bees and beehives. Starting November 15, you can make a meaningful donation by purchasing “Bees” at MCC Thrift shops in Ontario.
Sew much more
MCC partner Jordanian Women Qualifying and Training Society (JWQTS) aims to strengthen families and foster peaceful coexistence by empowering women economically, socially and psychologically. The sewing project trains women in sewing, cosmetology, mobile maintenance and cooking, and it promotes cultural understanding through shared activities. A group of 40 marginalized women from Ma’an district in southern Jordan will benefit from this program. By gaining vocational skills and exposure to diverse perspectives, these women will become change agents in their families and communities, promoting gender equality and social inclusion.
Jumlah, a mother of six children, enrolled in the course, even though her husband did not want her to work. He grew to understand the importance of her building a career for herself and her passion for sewing and for intricate details. After her training at JWQTS, Jumlah continued perfecting her craft and now is known in her village near Petra as a skilled seamstress. She sews prayer sets, baby blankets, children’s dresses, curtains and aprons, and she makes alterations to clothes. Each piece is meticulously crafted. JWQTS has gifted her a Singer sewing machine for her to use at home. Jumlah is a role model for women in Jordan who face struggles in a culture dominated by men. Her drive and ambition have helped her to build and market her own business, which began with this sewing course.
$150, provides a sewing machine, empowering women like Jumlah to build livelihoods and uplift their communities.
Visit mcc.org/christmas/sewing-machine for more details.
Go to mcc.org/Christmas to find more gift ideas— from goats, to chickens, to fresh-water wells. And thank you for your continued work in MCC thrift shops across Ontario! Your skills, time and good cheer are a huge part of MCC’s work supporting people around the world live with peace and dignity.
Beekeeper Robert Loketo talks about the DADO apiary project in Kachapangole, Uganda. A beehive is in the tree in the background.
