Red Cross Blogs

Big Red Cross Bus still pulling out all the stops

By Alix Miller
June 7, 2010 at 10:56 am

Last week I headed up to Manchester for the ultimate ride…albeit a stationary one.

I was visiting the Big Red Cross Bus which was stationed for the day in the city centre. While I was there I met some of our wonderful staff and volunteers, snapped up a bargain print dress, eyed up some Prada mules, munched a homemade muffin and more.

For the uninitiated we’ve taken a double decker and customised it to house an all-in-one mobile charity shop and volunteering hub. It’s travelling around Britain until 12 June, bringing the Red Cross to a city near you, as part of Volunteers’ Week.

When I arrived the bus was mobbed; dozens of people were milling around the racks of clothing on sale outside the bus from our shops. Nearby a shopper was having a go at dressing a dummy for the chance to win a professional photo shoot… with dazzling results.

Inside the bus, after grabbing a muffin a volunteer had baked,  I ran into Luiza, a local fashion student who had come to help out. Meanwhile, on the upstairs deck one of our volunteers was busy telling a potential new recruit about our many volunteering opportunities and encouraging her to help out in one of our nearby shops.

The woman wasn’t very confident about the prospect of manning a till, but the volunteer reassured her that there were  other things she could do instead, such as working behind the scenes sorting books and ticketing clothing.

By the end of the day, 24 new volunteers had signed up, sales of clothes, shoes, books and more had netted £240…and the bus hadn’t even moved.

There’s still time to catch the bus! Find out where it’s going next.

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Tags: charity shops, UK, volunteer, Volunteering, volunteers

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 10:56 am and is filed under Fundraising and events, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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