SPCA opens store to raise funds

The Te Awamutu SPCA has opened a charity store as it faces increasing difficulty raising the $120,000 a year it needs to operate.

Te Awamutu SPCA manager Dianne Gray has had the shop in mind for a long time but started slowly by holding frequent garage sales with donated goods during he past couple of years.

When the building became available in September she jumped at the opportunity to create a more stable revenue source for the Te Awamutu Care Animal, Re-homing and Education (Care) shelter, which takes in about 110 dogs and nearly 400 cats each year.

The idea for the store was not new, but she says the urgency has been increased by the economic crisis which has made it harder for all charities, made more difficult by being based in small, though generous, communities.

''The SPCA and animal welfare groups only have access to a small funding pool.'' This year the organisation is also facing an expected $20,000 bill for a new air conditioning system.

Mrs Gray said the first week went ''even better than expected'' with plenty of items pouring in to replace those already sold.

Mrs Gray said the main difference between a charity shop and a standard retail outlet was ''there's no budget for anything'' - all painting, shelf making, collecting and sorting was done by a ''small, very dedicated committee'' of people who had been members of the SPCA for many years.

''We are very efficient . . . people are not chopping and changing all the time so people know their jobs and get on with them,'' Mrs Gray said.

As well as providing a steady income for the SPCA, the items for sale were in some respects similar to the animals the SPCA took in.

''They are unwanted and their lives are over and then we take them in and re-home them, giving them a new life,'' Mrs Gray said. ''These items are the same.''

- © Fairfax NZ News