Salvos Stores in the Illawarra region of NSW have come up with some innovative fundraising ideas for this year’s Red Shield Appeal.
A Devonshire Tea Day at Helensburgh Salvos Store in late May attracted locals who enjoyed sitting in the store, having a barista-made coffee and a warm scone with jam and cream.
This was something we hadn’t tried before. It was the idea of our store manager, Deanne Mort, and a partnership between the store and the local Salvos missional community here.
Whilst the morning was quiet, we had a number of great conversations with Devonshire Tea customers, and two of them decided to engage with the local Salvos further and came to our weekly Spiritual Discussion Group as a result of conversations at the store that day.
Meanwhile, at Engadine, in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, two Salvos Store volunteers with a talent for singing decided to busk out the front of the store.
“The response was incredible,” said Salvos Store Regional Manager Dale Cheetam. “A few hours of them busking generated several hundred dollars for the Red Shield Appeal. And the live singing generated a great atmosphere in the store and on the street.”
Other Illawarra region stores engaged in Bunnings barbeques, created guessing competitions in store and helped to generate community awareness about The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal by asking people in the store if they would like to add a donation to their purchase.
Back by popular demand this year was the Salvos Stores’ ‘Hope Recycled Bus Tour’, in which community members pay for a day of shopping at several stores, with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea included, bus transport and lots of fun games and prizes. The tour has been a sell-out in the Illawarra region for several years, and this year an additional tour was added for the region’s northern stores and into southern Sydney.
Due to the good relationship developed with local Bunnings stores, a number of plants were donated to Kiama Salvos Store and repotted into donated pots to be sold for the Red Shield Appeal.
“There are so many creative ways our people have risen to the challenge of raising money for their local Salvation Army through the Red Shield Appeal,” said Dale.
Salvos Store in the Illawarra raises tens of thousands of dollars each year for its local Red Shield Appeal.
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