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<\/p>\n
Regulars drop by weekly just to see familiar faces, she said.<\/p>\n
Over two decades, she has watched children grow up and experience both good and hard times.<\/p>\n
“The shop is just part of their story,” Morgan said.<\/p>\n
Inside these spaces, volunteers bond deeply too. Uniting Queenscliff rosters volunteer shifts in pairs, fostering friendships within the team.<\/p>\n
The store’s profits cover more than 50 per cent of church operations, from keeping the lights on to the minister’s salary.<\/p>\n
Each item donated also shares a tale with the volunteers. These tales, Busch said, are often readily shared.<\/p>\n
“People will tell you the stories,” Busch said. “Sometimes [an item] is from a loved one who’s passed away.”<\/p>\n
Fellow Vestry Shop volunteer Karen Joyce said listening to these stories is both touching and sad.<\/p>\n
But the volunteers agree it is rewarding when the items find a new life with someone else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Vestry Shop’s Jill Stuckey recalls a near-complete bone china set bought by a woman grieving her mother. She was able to combine it with an existing heirloom set and split it among arguing daughters.<\/p>\n “Family crisis averted,” Stuckey said. The set was able to live on in the memory of another person.<\/p>\n Dr Lorinda Cramar, social and cultural historian at Deakin University, said op shops had a strong historic legacy.<\/p>\n “There has long been a secondhand option for clothing. It stretches far back hundreds of years,” she said.<\/p>\n She said it was important to consider the hands that have touched these garments before we love them.<\/p>\n “We can form these attachments that remind us of a loved one,” Dr Cramar said.<\/p>\n On average, Australians buy 56 garments annually, a global high. But still op shopping thrives.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/HomeSchoolSurfCoast-_26108.jpg\")
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