Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Thrift Shop celebrated their volunteers with sweet treats and special decor last week. Judie Mann, the Volunteer Coordinator at MCC, noted how many people they have helping in the store and their importance to the work that they do.

"We have approximately 100 volunteers, but on any given day, 20 to 30 would be the top. Obviously, that is supplemented by staff as well. Our volunteers last year donated over 20,000 hours to our organization."

The organization partnered with two other local businesses to provide food for their volunteers all week.

"We have an amazing group of volunteers. We have some volunteers who are here five or six days a week, and we really want to take this opportunity to honour the services that they lend to our organization. And, as most people, our volunteers love food, and often they're bringing snacks for break time. This is a week where they don't bring anything, we provide everything for them. We've been very fortunate to partner with Dairy Queen and Portage Homestead Co-op, they have donated some monetary and food items for us to serve to our volunteers."

The break room was decorated with signs displaying adjectives the staff used to describe the volunteers at MCC. Pictures can be seen below.

"When you hear 20,000 hours, that's a huge amount of time," Mann says. "We have some volunteers that are here once a week, a few of them come less than that. You don't need to have a whole lot of time to volunteer here, and we are always looking for more volunteers, because there is always work to do here."

Mann notes that volunteering doesn't require a strict schedule, and to contact them if you'd like to get involved in volunteering by calling (204) 239-4836.