Hope charity shop provides invaluable support to county
THE Hope Cancer Support Shop (HCSS) in Enniscorthy provides an invaluable service to the people of county Wexford.
Without it, the Hope Cancer Support Centre in the town wouldn’t be able to provide the services it does to people all over the county and beyond.
This newspaper met with Michelle Doyle, the HCSS manager, who outlined the nature of the shop and the satisfaction the volunteer staff get from their work.
Michelle has been involved with the shop for seven years and was joint manager, along with Ann Marsh, from October 2015.
When Ann retired in November 2019, Michelle took over the helm and as Manager of the facility she said the important contribution that all of the staff members make could not be overstated.
‘Ann did absolutely tremendous work for Hope,’ said Michelle.
‘A lot of our volunteers here have been in the shop since the very start, but we are always looking for more people to get involved as well,’ she added.
The shop opened in 2003 and as Michelle pointed out: ‘Our main focus is to generate funds for the Hope Centre which offers much-needed support to people affected by cancer.’
Michelle pointed out that the money through the shop is raised in three ways.
‘It’s raised, firstly, by the tremendous, hard-working group of 30 volunteers who work in the shop dealing with all the donations, sorting and stocking the shop and dealing with customer queries,’ she said.
‘The second way the shop raises money is through the generosity of the people in the local community who make donations that enable the shop to replenish stock, which in turn generates more income for our end goal of supporting the Hope Centre,’ said Michelle.
‘The third way the shop raises money is through the customers who support it by purchasing items,’ she added.
‘We genuinely appreciate all the patronage we receive from the local community.’
With regard to her own involvement with the facility, Michelle said she gets great job satisfaction from the fact the shop plays such an important role in the overall scheme of cancer support.
It’s something that she said all of the volunteer staff hold close to their heart.
‘I think that’s what makes it so worthwhile for everyone here,’ she said.
‘You can visibly see the difference it makes, and we have customers who come in and they tell you their story of a cancer journey and how the Hope Centre supported them,’ she added.
‘People in general are so supportive. They want to contribute and for some people who have gone through a cancer journey the shop also gives them a way of giving something back.’
Michelle also said everyone in the shop is ‘passionate about Hope’.
‘It’s very reassuring to know that through the work we are doing we are benefiting the Hope Centre,’ she said.
She also agreed that ordinary members of the public who donate items to the shop possibly don’t fully appreciate the enormous value and help of what they are doing.
‘People probably don’t realise the value of what they are doing when they donate items,’ she said.
‘Unless you have gone through a cancer journey, you will not fully appreciate the value of it,’ she added.
While the public face of the shop is familiar to customers, there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that people might not be aware of.
There is an extensive sorting section in which items, especially clothing, are separated, valued and tagged before being made ready for display in the shop.
The shop has to operate in accordance with all regulatory guidelines, like any commercial premises, but the difference is that its staff are volunteers and its sole aim is to raise money for the Hope Centre.
The shop opens on Mondays, from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., and from Tuesday to Friday, from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
On Saturdays, opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the shop can be contacted by phone at 053 923831 or on email at: shop@ hopesupportcentre.ie.
The only items the shop can’t accept are toys, electrical goods and baby equipment.
Other than that it’s a haven where ‘one could find anything’.
‘You could literally find anything here,’ said Michelle.
‘We have regular customers, with some people calling in every day and that’s great,’ she added.
All of the staff in the shop are looking forward to the Hope & Dream run which Michelle described as ‘a huge success story’.
‘We are all looking forward to a great day out,’ she said.