Charity shops

A feature of every town in England is the charity shop. The way it works is this. Let us say you have a book you no longer need, or a sweater you no longer fit into, or a toy your child played with ages ago and has now outgrown....and you just don't know what to do with it. What you can do is take it to a shop run by a charitable organisation and donate it. They decide whether it is in good enough condition for someone else to be interested in buying it. If it is, they fix a price on it and display it in their shop. The price is much less than its original price and there are many people ready to buy it. The organisation gets money for its work, you feel good that you did not throw away something that was once useful to you, and you actually helped in a good cause.

I think this is a wonderful idea. There are charity shops run by Oxfam (which I believe started the trend and has hundreds of shops), Amnesty International, Salvation army, British heart foundation, cancer research UK, Marie Curie cancer care, British red cross, and many others. They sells books, clothes, toys, CDs, cassettes, gifts and so on. Most of them are single room shops with very pretty window displays, that would tempt you to go in and have a look. Most of the shops are run by volunteers. It has been estimated that nearly a hundred billion pounds are raised every year for charity through these shops. There is the additional advantage that many things which would only have gone to the landfill are being given a further use. One step towards 'reduce, re-use and recycle'!

I hear there are charity shops in many other countries. I wonder why they have not caught on in India. There are innumerable organisations working for good causes. There would be lots of people happy to buy things in good condition, available at low rates. I am equally sure there are many people who hang on to unused items in the house for the simple reason that they dont want to throw them away, but would gladly part with them if they are sure someone will use them.You may say that one might as well donate things to people who actually need them. But there is always the problem of linking up the needy to the one giving the charity. This is an excellent way of bringing them together! Are there charity shops in India that I am not aware of?

I volunteer at a charity book shop. It is both agony and ecstasy for me! More about it in my next post.