Letter to the Editor

A few months ago, I wrote an article about Barraba's two "opportunity shops". I think I questioned who was getting the opportunities.

I compared St. Vinnies (I refuse to use the new rebrand) to Opportunity Knocks - the relatively recent addition, and recently expanded relocation, to the Barraba streetscape.

St. Vinnies has a high-powered CEO at, probably, around $200,000+ a year - the new structuring changed the pricing policies, as reported, from helping the community and a local charity basis to a profit-making operation to fund the executives, and other good works.

Opportunity Knocks, as far as I can glean, is there exclusively for the community.  Nothing is over-priced, most is under-priced.   It’s a service as opposed to a profit centre.  If someone is in need they don't even charge. All profits, if there are any, stay in the town for community projects.

It seems to me that St. Vinnies is scamming its volunteers.  If you pay the boss quarter of a million I don't think you can ask the lowly peasants to work for free.   Having said that, in the charity racket, St. Vinnies pays its executives considerably less than some of the others - they are about in the middle.  Charity is big business . . . and we all thought it was charity, aren't we adorable.

How many scarves and tops have to be sold to pay for one person getting $5,000 a week. 

No one wants St. Vinnies to close - or any of the few shops we have to go dark - but the pricing levels I saw recently showed a distinct fund-raising goal, not a "help the community" ethos.  That may be what the new St. Vinnies is all about, good on them - collect all you can under the banner of charity, get the tax break, let the executives buy chalets in Aspen and with anything left-over do-good deeds.  It's a reasonable business model.

Everyone who cares about the community, and where their money goes, should know that all "opportunity shops" are not created equal.

Name and address supplied