Letter to the Editor

Salvation Army needs volunteers

The Sioux Lookout Salvation Army Thrift Store has been serving Sioux Lookout and area since the early 1970s. It began humbly with Phil Dumas operating a small service from his home and, after his death, his wife Phyllis running a small store by herself for almost 20 years. In 1995 a group of local women started to share the workload. When the building we were using was about to collapse, we built a new store with the help of countless local tradespeople who volunteered their labour. Our new store opened in January 2004 and it is a bustling hub of activity. As far as we know, our Sally Ann store is the only one in Canada run totally by volunteers.

Thanks to generous donations from the people of Sioux Lookout and area, and through the dedication of our amazing volunteers, now numbering about 50, we are able to provide inexpensive clothing and household goods two days a week at our little store. We know we are popular when we see our customers lined up 20-deep on a Saturday morning to shop! In addition, we send our excess goods up north through our partnership with Skycare, to Mishkeegogamang, diabetes, and to local organizations like - Out of the Cold, the pet shelter, the jail, the hostel, the hospital, the day care centres, local schools, and the women’s shelter. The store also makes an impact through its recycling efforts and its diversion of usable goods from the landfill. Not only that, our Community Care Committee makes cash donations to local and worthy causes every year. Since 2007-08 fiscal year, we have donated $290,140, averaging over $26,000 per year. 

But it truly takes an army to run our store and in the New Year we will be losing some valuable volunteers who have provided years of service to us. We would like to say a big “Thank you!” to them and we are hoping to find new volunteers to join our ranks! We need clothing and house-wares sorters, garbage haulers, cleaners, cashiers, and people for specific areas. If you think you can offer your time, or if you have a group of friends that would like to help out, we would love to hear from you! You can leave your name at the Sally Ann store, or contact Cathy Bowen at 737-1573 or Lois Mombourquette at 737-1302 

In the meantime, we’d like to thank everyone for your continued support and generosity. Best wishes to all in 2019!

Cathy Bowen, on behalf of all the volunteers