Count to 32. Not too quickly, just pace yourself so that it’s about 32 seconds – now the phone will ring and the caller will be in crisis. That is the reality of the 24-hour Lifeline crisis line – a call every 32 seconds.
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Manning Valley men and women are part of the highly trained team of Lifeline volunteers who answer more than 2200 calls a day to its 24-hour crisis line in Australia. It is challenging and compassionate work that helps people as they voice thoughts of suicide, reveal domestic violence, speak of family crisis, admit to loneliness and discuss the impact of drug and alcohol abuse.
It is work that receives little government funding and this Saturday in Taree, Lifeline will officially open its new store to drive more revenue to the organisation.
Lifeline is changing how it presents and operates its op shops in a strategy that will enable it to accept and sell more of the items donated by the public to the organisation. About 80 per cent of revenue comes from Lifeline op shops, book fairs and fundraising activities and the organisation is choosing to transform its stores to bring more customers and raise more money.
The new Taree store in Albert Street will be the second largest store in the Lifeline Mid North Coast area and Jemma McDonald is the retail co-ordinator driving the new direction and says working to change the location, size and style of the Taree store is an important improvement.
It looks different, it feels different and it smells different to the typical op shop. The store is warehouse size and its shop fittings and styling take inspiration from vintage industrial images sourced by Jemma on Pinterest and then translated and created for the Taree store by Visual Edge interior designer, Lisa Christie.
Large wooden cable reels are used as shelving and seating, red vintage doors stand as dressing room dividers, old suitcases have been given a second life as wall shelving and old vintage lampshades have been crafted to create a dynamic central lighting feature. The space is striking and inspiring and offers an attractive retail experience.
“I believe everyone will appreciate the look and the feel of the store. Some people will shop at op shops because they are looking for a bargain, some people will shop here because they have a lower income and don’t have the money to buy from other stores. We want them to have the feeling of having bought something they love and to have enjoyed the experience because that’s part of the pleasure and one of the reasons why we love to shop.”
Jemma is excited by the potential of the space.
“We can offer more product to our customers. We had to turn away a lot of donations, probably three to four households every couple of weeks because we couldn’t fit it into the store.
“We are really trying to bring our stores forward. It’s good for the customers but it is also good for the community. We have a lot of Work for the Dole participants and other people who are looking for jobs and we are now able to give them the best retail education experience while they are with us.”
Jemma says the community understands the need to support Lifeline.
”The statistics relating to the number of people who die due to suicide, well, if that was on a highway then that highway would have so much money thrown at it from government. We have that many people dying from suicide - it’s so hard because every person’s battle is different.
“Lifeline is there to help people to save lives and to help people in crisis.”
Jemma is confident the new Taree store will also bring people to the Manning Valley.
“Op shopping is becoming more popular and people travel in groups. There is a Facebook page called ‘I Love To Op Shop’ and already people have mentioned the new Taree store.
It will bring people to the area who travel to op shops. We see it at the Forster Lifeline shop - people who are from Sydney or Newcastle will spend a day and pop into the op shops. This store is something that Taree can be proud of – the community now has a really lovely op shop.”