CMU honours founders of first MCC thrift shop
When Selma Loewen, Sara Stoesz, Susan Giesbrecht, and Linie Friesen started a thrift shop in Altona, Man. to raise funds for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), they expected it to last just a few months.
Little did they know the shop would still be around 41 years later, and that it was the beginning of a network that has grown to more than 100 shops across North America that has generated contributions totaling $167 million for the work of MCC.
CMU President Cheryl Pauls will recognize the women and the impact their work has had during Fall Festival by presenting them with the university’s 2013 Blazer Distinguished Community Service Award on Friday, Sept. 27.
“It’s just absolutely amazing what the Lord can do when you’re obedient,” says Loewen, 86.
Stoesz, 82, agrees.
“I thank God every day that we can help and give,” she says.
Loewen attended the MCC Manitoba annual meeting in February 1972 where she heard John Hostetler—at the time, director of MCC’s material resources program—report that MCC was reducing shipments of used clothing for overseas distribution.
Hostetler made the statement, “What we need is a machine that will turn clothing into cash.”
“Literally, a lightbulb went off in my head,” Loewen says. “I thought, ‘Selma, you get back to Altona and start a thrift shop.’”
She invited Stoesz, Giesbrecht, and Friesen to her home for tea, and told them about her idea.
The four women raised the money they needed to start the store, and rented a two-room space to create the Altona Community Self Help Centre. It opened on March 17, 1972.
The store raised $1,000 for MCC in its first six months. By the end of the year, three more shops had opened in Southern Manitoba.
Today, there are 56 shops in Canada and 57 in the U.S. In 2011, the shops in Canada alone contributed $7.2 million to MCC.
For Giesbrecht, 85, one of the best things about starting the Altona shop is that it brought women from all four of the community’s churches together.
And while raising money for MCC’s projects overseas is important, Giesbrecht notes that she and her friends also wanted to help the people in their own community.
“People have a lot of pride and they don’t just want handouts,” the 85-year-old says. “Here, they could come and pick and choose, and pay for what they needed. People were the important thing—being able to help individual people.”
Friesen adds that running the shop was a way to contribute to MCC’s work in lieu of going overseas.
“We couldn’t go out—we had families—but we could certainly help, and we never dreamed how it would all develop and become such a worldwide project,” says Friesen, 92.
CMU President Cheryl Pauls says the vision, initiative, and level of commitment the four women displayed is remarkable.
“It’s incredibly innovative how they could turn clothes into money to be helpful,” Pauls says. “They had the imagination to create a project that was able to create good in multiple ways.”
Honouring that achievement is vital, Pauls adds.
“It’s an important story to tell for our students and the community around us.”
Loewen, Stoesz, Giesbrecht, and Friesen say they are humbled by the recognition and are just happy to have done something to help the work that MCC is doing.
“God has worked in mysterious ways to make it grow this way,” says Stoesz, who still volunteers at the thrift shop nearly every day.
“MCC is a very good organization to work for. We believe in it. I’m just overwhelmed by it and thank God every day for the willingness of the volunteers and how it’s grown. It’s unreal.”
The awards ceremony honouring these women takes place at 7:00 PM on Friday, September 27 in CMU’s Laudamus Auditorium. All are welcome to attend. Admission is free.
Printed from: www.cmu.ca/community/blog/15
