Winkler’s MCC Thrift Shop celebrates 50 years of community service this month.
Over those five decades, countless people have kept the store running as staff, volunteers, donors, and, of course, customers.
The MCC Thrift Shop’s roots actually go back a few years earlier than its official 1974 opening.
In 1970, public health nurses voiced the need for a thrift shop to aid the community’s less fortunate.
“Erna Elias, Eileen Kroeker, and Sue Derksen took up the challenge and they started advertising for people to bring in used clothing and stuff like that,” recalls Jake Hildebrandt, who got involved himself a few years later, eventually serving as a board member. Today, at 95, he still volunteers in the back repairing donated sewing machines several times a week.
The Goodwill Store, as it was then called, began storing donations in space provided by the Bible school that used to operate on Eighth St. across from Winkler Elementary School.
Run by volunteers, they were open initially one day a week, selling items at reasonable prices to families who needed them.
“It wasn’t a giveaway,” stresses Hildebrandt, “but it was something they could buy cheaply, and the money was used to keep on operating.”
“We’ve been recycling long before it was popular,” observes Doreen Warms, who is heading up the store’s 50th anniversary celebrations. “Reducing waste by reusing, recycling everything.”
Over the next four years, any excess funds raised were donated to a variety of local organizations and projects—United Way, Salem Home, the fire department, etc.—and extra clothes were sent to Mennonite Central Committee and various other missions.
Eventually the hours expanded to three days a week, with 10 local churches teaming up to find volunteers to man the store.
It was such a success and demand was growing so fast that it was decided it was time to tackle the whole project more formally.
On Sept. 25, 1974, 15 women gathered to plan for the future, voting to rename the shop the MCC Store (following the lead of the very first MCC thrift shop that had opened in Altona two years earlier) and send the bulk of the annual proceeds to the global relief agency.
“MCC had a good reputation dating back to the 1920s, 1930s when they were involved internationally in helping people,” recalls Hildebrandt. “And through the churches, there was a connection with MCC already.”
The thrift shop moved several times in the years that followed, eventually building and opening its current location on 4th St. in downtown Winkler in the early ‘80s. Since then, they have renovated and expanded within that building multiple times to get their current sprawling space.
None of the people in the early years could have imagined the success the store would go on to have, Hildebrandt says, but “they always worked in hope that it would be a blessing to everyone, and that it would continue to grow.”
Paying it forward
For Hildebrandt, volunteering at the thrift shop has been a chance to give back to the agency that aided his family when he was a boy.
It was MCC that gave them food and other supplies when they were living as refugees in Europe during and after the Second World War. MCC later helped them move to Canada.
“We were the recipients of the help that was handed out, and we were so glad for it, because we had practically nothing,” he recalls. “When you are a refugee, you are a man without a country, and to realize there’s an organization that stands behind you and where you know you can go and find help—not just for today, but for the future—it’s a no small thing.
“From that time forward, we were part of MCC, kind of part of the family.”
Hildebrandt’s time spent working behind-the-scenes at the store is a small way he can pay that support forward, he says.
“He’s given back a hundred thousand times over,” says board chair Dave Penner, noting that Hildebrandt has been a steadfast volunteer—one of many that form the backbone of the organization.
“It’s a community there in the back,” Hildebrandt says on what’s kept him returning well into his golden years. “There’s friendship and the satisfaction that you’re doing something worthwhile.”
Volunteers like Hildebrandt have always been the lifeblood of the MCC Thrift Shop, says general manager Peter Kornelson, and that’s not likely to ever change. The store currently has about 300 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds.
“If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t have a store,” Kornelson says. “And if we had to pay them all, we wouldn’t be able to send any money out.”
In its budget this year, the store anticipates being able to send $500,000 to MCC for its aid efforts around the world. Board member Dr. Don Klassen estimates the shop has sent upwards of $13 million to MCC over the past 50 years.
“And every year we also do local donations,” he notes. This past year that totalled over $36,000 to seven Winkler area non-profits.
Whether half a world away or right here at home, the store’s purpose has always been and always will be to do some good in the world, says Klassen.
“Mennonites come in so many different stripes, even in a community like Winkler. But MCC to me was always an organization that brought us all together.”
“MCC had a motto of serving in the name of Christ, and that covered all the different churches,” agrees Hildebrandt.
“As a result, people from various churches have donated to MCC over the years, and to major projects, when we’ve had them,” adds Penner. “Whatever little bit we can do, we do here.”
To mark the 50th anniversary of the date of the store’s official formation as a fundraising arm of MCC, the board has some fun planned for Sept. 25-27.
On those three days, customers will get to randomly pull out discount vouchers at the till, ranging from 10 to 50 per cent off purchases up to $100.
Then, on Sept. 27 at 3 p.m., they will draw the winner for the grand prize 50th anniversary quilt made by local volunteers, the second-place prize of a barbecue donated by Parkside Home Hardware Building Centre, a Sunny Day gift basket, and $50 gift cards from Janzen’s Paint, Chicken Chef, and Southern Meats.
The raffle has gone “phenomenally well,” says Warms, noting they’re well on their way to a sell-out—only about two dozen of the 2,000 tickets made available this summer are still up for grabs. You can get yours at the store for $5 each, five for $20, or a book of 15 for $50.
Last week, the early bird prize winner, Chris Loewen, got the chance to take in a Winnipeg Goldeyes game as part of his prize. He and 20 of his family and friends filled a VIP box donated by Golden West Broadcasting at the team’s game against the Lincoln Saltdogs.
“I actually wasn’t going for the early bird prize,” Loewen shares. “It was more the cause … the money was going to a great cause.”
Penner sends thanks out to every single person who has ever had a hand, big or small, in the store’s success over the years.
“A big thank you to donors, volunteers, staff, and the community for supporting this thrift store for 50 years, and thus supporting the work of MCC.”
