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An Army of Angels – MCC Thrift Part 1 By Connie Heppner Mueller

In March of 1972, Linie Friesen, Selma Loewen, Susan Giesbrecht and Sara Stoesz opened the first MCC Thrift Shop in Altona, Manitoba with an expectation the project might last “three to six months.” The shop began to thrive and produced about $1,000 for MCC during the first six months of operation. Over forty years later, their vision has grown a North American network of over 100 shops, generating

millions of dollars every year for the programs of Mennonite Central Committee.


Shopping at your local MCC Shop is an affordable and environmentally friendly way to support a great

cause so I sat down with Dave Rempel, the current manager of the Altona thrift store recently to see how ACAN’s column could help to support their work. I thought our conversation was going to

center around donations and sales. I wanted to know how to educate the public about what items

they would like to receive more of or what items they wished folks didn’t drop off at all and so on, and I did learn a lot about that, but what surprised me was how much I learned about the army of angels that are running that shop.


Dave and I were frequently “interrupted” by these “angels” as they had questions for Dave about all

kinds of day-to-day operations of the store. I soon caught on that these were not interruptions at all, but

rather these were windows into the incredible work so many are doing in the store. Here’s just a taste of the kinds of work I witnessed.


There’s an 88-year-old gentleman who fixes up and cleans the old appliances that come in. When I

visited, he had just finished replacing the clock on a range and scrubbing the whole thing with comet

until it was like new. There’s another gentleman who takes all the broken Christmas lights home and

replaces bulbs until they work again, as well as setting up all the donated Christmas trees. There is the

team of women that sort the fabric and clothing and the crew that works out front at the cash registers.

There’s someone who takes all the donated jewelry home to polish, repair and prepare it for sale.

There’s a couple that takes care of all the sales of antiques collectibles, taking the time to research the

value of items and set them all out carefully in a beautiful display. There are those who specialize in

tinkering with vacuums, small appliances, sewing machines, clocks and watches until they work again

and those who repair and restore broken furniture. Some take fabric home to cut into squares so that

blanket-making is more efficient.


2018 MCC Altona Volunteer Photo 

This list could go on. Do you see what I mean? It’s an army of angels – truly.

We often talk of win/win situations, and this MCC Thrift shop can boast of many wins.

  • items saved from the landfill and given a second life – win!
  • money raised for MCC’s work of peace, development and relief – win!
  • many volunteers find purpose and community through their work at the store – win!
  • people can find gently used items inexpensively – win!
  • no demand on supply chains – win!

Stay tuned for part 2 of this story where we will learn more about what “stuff” sells well, what doesn’t,

how to join this army of angels, how to make their lives a little easier and whether they really want that

2 foot piece of garden hose you cleaned out of the shed or not. Until then, follow ‘Altona MCC Thrift’ on

Facebook and ‘MCC Thrift’ on Instagram and use the #mymccthriftfind to share your latest purchase.


ACAN seeks to educate and inspire sustainable practices in our community.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, altonacan.blogspot.com or email inquiries to

altonacan@gmail.com Give us a shout if you would like to be a Friend of ACAN.





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