May 26th, 2025Lots of love for Daylesford Community Op Shop

People love the Daylesford Community Op Shop and for good reason. It has great bargains, friendly volunteers and all its profits go back into the Daylesford community and those in need.

And those are just a few things that secretary Roux Aradia, pictured above, also loves about volunteering there – so much so she is now the secretary. Roux spent 12 years with Christmas Cheer, volunteering alongside Michelle Clifford, and then moved over to the op shop six months ago, where her mum Rebecca was already a volunteer.

“I love the community work we do here. If someone is in need of something, and they don’t have the money for it, we can help out and get it for them. It is just really fulfilling to be able to help with that.

“At the moment, with the cost of living crisis, we do get quite a few people coming in looking for help. They might be regulars and they get to know us and sometimes they will reach out to us privately or someone might ask on their behalf.

“Everyone is struggling at the moment and there is no shame in asking for help but we always do it very delicately and behind the scenes. We have great empathy for people – many of us have been in that same situation of needing a helping hand.”

Roux might have a committee role but she is still selling and sorting goods and gets a great vibe from customers.

“We constantly have customers coming in, telling us how comfortable they feel here and how this is their happy place and things like that. I like that.” Michelle said the volunteers were a fantastic crew and were always up for a laugh and bit of fun.

“I would have to say the best part of being here is the camaraderie and the fun we have together, and how relaxed it is. We have people of all ages and genders – we really are a bit of a mix. And we welcome anyone – you don’t need any experience.”

Back to fun and Roux says the strangest thing that has been donated so far is an old chamber pot inside a built-in toilet box which she thinks was “pretty cool”.

There’s also a tendency for things to come in, not in threes, but many more, like a stack of walking canes, or the same knick-knacks.

“We just get waves of random things.”

Roux said with Volunteer Week upon us, the board wanted to thank all the op shop’s volunteers.

“They’ve been putting in 100 per cent and we just want to thank all of them because they’re fantastic.”

The op shop is always keen to hear from people wanting to volunteer, especially on weekends at the moment, so pop in and grab a form soon.