Anglicans’ $90,000 investment keeps St John’s op shop open
The Murraylands parish of the Anglican Church has had a new roof put on the building that houses a much loved – and needed – thrift shop.
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The Murraylands’ Anglicans have made a big investment in one of their buildings to keep a critical community service going.
Until recently, the roof at the St John’s Op Shop in Murray Bridge was in a dire state.
The corrugated iron sheets on top of the 114-year-old hall were tied down with eight-gauge fencing wire and badly rusted.
Patches of daylight had become visible from underneath, and water was damaging the building.
Without a fix, parish priest Daniel Irvine said, the op shop would have had to close.
That would have meant the loss of one of the few places locals can get affordable clothing and food relief.
So parish members resolved to spend more than $90,000 on repairs, using funds derived in part from the sale of the former Anglican churches at Mypolonga and Karonda.
The job “pretty much emptied out” the parish’s savings, Mr Irvine said, but getting the work done had been important.
Once upon a time, the op shop had been seen as a way of raising money that could be used to fund the church’s mission.
Now, he said, parishioners recognised that the op shop itself was the mission.
“This is how we can reach people, how we can feed the hungry, how we can clothe people in the cold during winter,” he said.
“(The op shop’s) primary focus is to help this community.”
Anglican congregations around Australia had been invited to share in a season of hope between Easter and Pentecost this year, he said; “I think this is a practical, hands-on hope you can feel”.
“That’s the hope Jesus was offering: he was feeding the hungry, he was restoring dignity to those that were outcast, and that’s the mission we’re called to try and follow.”
Even the opportunity to volunteer at the op shop gave meaning to local people’s lives.
With the congregation at Australia’s smallest cathedral having shrunk to about 20 members, those community volunteers were much needed.
A short ceremony was held at the op shop last Wednesday to celebrate the project’s completion, including a ribbon-cutting by Margaret May and Deb Rew and a free barbecue.
- Get help: Visit the St John’s op shop at 6-8 Mannum Road, Murray Bridge between 9am and 3pm Tuesday-Thursday.
- Read more: Join in ... at the St John’s op shop
