ECS CEO Chris Meyer and Assistant manager Tim Currie. Photos: Geoff Vivian.
Esperance’s favourite op shop is celebrating 10 years of trading from its Gilpin Street premises, which it set up after receiving a Lotterywest grant.
Yet co-founder and CEO Chris Meyer said ECS had always been “more than an op shop”, with one in 200 Esperance people now volunteering for the organisation.
“Our core business is helping people, emergency relief, so we do food vouchers, food hampers,” he said.
“We also do advocacy, and the op shop part of it is a vehicle we use to support the community.
“It also helps to fund the organisation because we get limited government funding to do what we do.”
The organisation began in 1996 as the care ministry of Esperance’s Christian Family Church, where Mr Meyer was pastor.
He ran the shop with another pastor and their wives.
“It started with a few items donated by people from the church, and then in 2011 it became incorporated in its own right so it’s no longer formally attached to the church,” he said.
“We get limited government funding to do what we do.”
Nowadays, Mr Meyer said they helped more than 130 families each month through the Chadwick Street premises.
“And we’re very much a family,” he said.
“We now have 15 staff, and we have more than 65 volunteers who work endlessly to just keep the whole thing running smoothly.”
Beside the op shop, ECS also feeds the hungry at a Friday evening barbecue at Dempster Street bus stop and also provides about 40 food hampers each week.
“If we do 40 hampers that means we’ve probably given out 40 vouchers to Pink Lake IGA as well who have helped us a lot over the years,” he said.
“Individuals need more help than what they ever used to, and the reality is that we are struggling to keep up with the demand for our services.”
Assistant manager Tim Currie said ECS also ran a youth program.
“We have 65 volunteers based here, also other volunteers help with the youth program,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity to give kids a chance to make some positive memories and have some positive role models and just have some fun being a child.
“We have to limit the numbers due to staff and volunteer capacity.”
Mr Meyer said finding staff wages was a constant struggle.
“To respect the people that we deal with we need quality staff to help them,” he said.
“That means that we need to pay a reasonable wage. So at the moment that’s where the log jam is because we get no public funding for wages.”
ECS can be contacted on 9071 6310.
