Second-hand clothing keeps food on the stove
Collecting and re-selling of second-hand clothing can be very useful and at times a most rewarding experience.
NEWMARKET – At Stepping Stone Hoppice and Care Services, second-hand clothes keep food on the stove and medicine in the cupboard.
It may not always seem to be the most glamorous of fundraising efforts, but the collecting and re-selling of second-hand clothing can be very useful and at times a most rewarding experience.
Trix Willemse from Raceview is a volunteer at Stepping Stone Hospice & Care Services in New Market Park, with her portfolio that of Head of Donated Goods.
“This experience has certainly taught me the gift of ‘Paying it Forward’,” says Trix. Once she receives the donation of second-hand clothing, she resells it to women such as Lungile Mkhwanazi, who in turn sells it in the Johannesburg CBD.
Lungile is the sole breadwinner of her household, supporting her own three children, her sister’s children and her mother. Her 19-year-old son, Siyabonga, is a member of the Johannesburg Junior Symphonic Orchestra, and Lungile says it is only through her second-hand clothing business that she manages to keep paying for his studies.
Funds raised by the hospice in this way are mainly used for the purchase of much needed medicines for patients. “Not all our patients are in a financial position to pay for services, yet we will never turn them away,” says Tersia Burger, CEO of Stepping Stone Hospice & Care Services.
Hospice offers its services to anyone who has had a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness that cannot be cured, irrespective of their social, cultural, spiritual, financial or religious points of view or standing.
If you have second-hand clothing you wish to donate to Stepping Stone Hospice, kindly contact them on 087 997 0222.
