Cambridge Hospice Shop manager Justine Webb-Elliott is about as dedicated as you can be. 
Hospice Waikato chief executive Alex Gordon, and shop manager, Justine Webb-Elliott, inspecting the items donated and dumped during the Easter break, while the shop was shut. Photo: Supplied.A self-confessed lover of her job, she leads a team of staff and dedicated volunteers who are passionate about thrift shopping, about giving customers a wonderful shopping experience and, most of all, about raising funds to ensure that the people of the Waikato, who are dying and need Hospice Waikato care, receive that care at no cost to them or their whānau.
But there are times when starting the working day is a challenge. These are the days when the shop’s amazing community donors have left their donations outside the shop, when the shop is closed. All too frequently other members of the community have torn open the bags of donations, taken what they want and have left the remainder of the donations strewn across the shop frontage. The other days that are difficult are when members of the public have used the shop frontage as a place to dump their rubbish.
“There are two key messages I’d love to get out to our community” says Justine.
“One is to please bring your donated items to us during our opening hours. It enables us to check the quality of the donations and store them inside our shop until our staff and volunteers have the opportunity to sort the donations and prepare them for display in our shop.
“Secondly, please don’t use our shop as a place to dump rubbish. It significantly adds to our own rubbish disposal costs which, in turn, reduces the funds available to support hospice patients.”
