St Clare Charity Shop Volunteering

On Friday 24 March, a small team from Stace made use of their Giving Back day to help out at the St Clare’s Hospice charity shop on Epping High Street.

The three volunteers arrived at 9am, and were greeted by the shop’s staff. Donations range from electricals, toys, games and clothes, which formed the team’s focus for the day; they were tasked with sorting last summer’s clothes into gift-aid and non-gift-aid items. Gift Aid is a simple way to increase the value of a charity shop donation at no extra cost. Through the scheme, charities can increase the value of monetary donations received from UK taxpayers by reclaiming their basic rate of tax.

St Clare’s Hospice’s area manager visited the team during the day and gave our volunteers an overview of the different stores and what they each specialise in. Throughout the day the team sorted through around 12 large bags full of clothes before heading inside and working on tagging, pricing and hanging all of them up, ready to be put onto the shop floor.

Joe Whybrow, one of the volunteers said “I had great fun doing this and also enjoyed some sweet treats and cups of tea with the staff who were both helpful and lovely to talk to. We finished our day at 4pm and were told we were always welcomed back and that we had done an amazing job! (their words not mine!).”

St Clare Hospice is an outstanding charity and a core part of the community in West Essex and East Herts providing free, compassionate care to adults with life-limiting illnesses, their families and carers. They operate nine local charity shops offering pre-loved and new goods. Shops run entirely on generous donations and each item received helps to raise vital income for the hospice. Stace joined St Clare Hospice’s Corporate Partnership Network last year and we look forward to future volunteering opportunities.