Committee For Lorne: Lorne OP Shop going strong

Here we are halfway through 2018 already and 2017 seems to have just ended yesterday!

Over the past four years, almost $1 million has been generated by the Lorne Op Shop for the Lorne community. Last year was probably the Lorne Op Shop’s most successful year to date. By the end of the calendar year a total of $179,238 had been returned to the Lorne community, funding a variety of different projects.

Last year, the vast majority of this money (in fact 93 per cent of all projects financed) went to the Lorne Community Hospital (LCH). This included:

• $50,000 donation to the LCH Annual Appeal
• $45,552 for a portable ultrasound machine
• $35,000 for an OT Unit for eye testing
• $26,032 for furniture, training, etc.
• $3,454 for wheel chairs, etc.
• $2,400 per quarter for “Special Treats” for the LCH Aged Care residents

As well as supporting the LCH, smaller amounts were made available to a number of other organisations in Lorne, including the Lorne P-12 College, the Lorne Kindergarten and the Lorne Community House. The Lorne Op Shop also supported the Red Frogs group, who care for young people during Schoolies Week in Lorne, with a donation of $10,000 to assist them to provide accommodation and food to the large number of volunteers who make up the Red Frogs team.

The Lorne Op Shop continues to be run totally by volunteers. The president, Stella O’Donnell, is a resident of Wye River and has experienced first-hand the trauma that bushfire can cause in a small community, almost losing her house and sharing the grief of others who lost everything in the Christmas 2016 fires. She helps to tie the Wye River community into the work of the Op Shop, which supports the whole LCH area, including Lorne, Wye River and Separation Creek, Deans Marsh and Aireys Inlet. Our Secretary, Wendy Jarratt and Treasurer, Bill Rees, supported by an executive committee, keep the wheels turning smoothly and the money going out to our community.

Our volunteers put hours of work into running the Lorne Op Shop each week. They take one, or sometimes two, regular weekly shifts, during which time they receive and sort donations, value special items, keep the shop clean and tidy, and of course, serve our customers. Other volunteers make themselves available to fill emergency shifts when regulars are ill or away. Everyone has their own ideas about the best way to do things, and we don’t all agree all the time! But, overall, the Lorne Op Shop is a happy gang of people who care about their community and each other, and who work hard to make sure that LCH and other community groups have access to the best health and safety provisions available.