All about community

For Waitara Family Store manager Karen Lowe, who has worked in the store for 35 years and set up youth groups and employment training, it’s all about community.

I grew up in The Salvation Army, and when I was having a baby I needed a pram and they helped me out. So I thought, ‘Why don’t I help them out?’ and I’ve been at the Family Store ever since.

I’ve been the manager here for nearly 12 years. The corps officers suggested I apply when the last managers left. I thought, ‘I couldn’t do that’—the idea nearly had me in a blubbering mess. I said, ‘I’ll need a lot of help,’ and they said, ‘That’s what we’re here for.’

I’ve seen a lot of things down the years. Like the day a staff member said, ‘Karen, I’ve got to show you something.’ She took me round the back to where we park our cars and I said, ‘Oh my goodness!’ She’d hit the accelerator instead of the brake and gone through the wall. There was more damage to the store than the car!

I said, ‘Oh well, if anyone can do it, Waitara can—we’ll just be the first drive-through shop.’

I encourage fun at work and customers often say, ‘If we gave you a dollar every time we hear laughter in the shop, The Salvation Army would be rich.’

We get lots of people who come in looking for someone to talk to.

I’ll never forget one lady. I bowled up and said, ‘Hi, how are you?’ and she said, ‘I’ve been better. I’ve just been told I’ve got three months to live.’ I didn’t know what to say, but she came back quite a few times in those months.

There’s a lot of trust among customers and staff and it’s such a privilege when people say they feel better when they leave here than when they came in.

Two years ago, I developed an employment skills course. We work with WINZ next door, so we get five or six 20-year-olds who just want to sit on the couch, and instead we take them on for a seven-week course.

We organise mock job interviews and find them a suitable set of clothes for that. We take their photo when they come in and on week six, so they can see the change. U Turn Community Training Services help with CV writing. Salvation Army staff from the Bridge and budgeting come in as well, and once a week we have a local identity who didn’t have life handed to them on a plate come and talk to them.

The Rotary Club has offered to help with mock interviews, and a man came in the other day offering to organise work experience for them. That support comes from reaching out to the community. I always say if you want the community’s support, you have to be involved—and we join in anything community minded.

I’ve volunteered with Plunket and school, and for the past year I’ve organised a youth group for young people that need to get out and be involved in something. It’s about building self-confidence and a brighter future.

I will be at the store till I retire. My team are so determined I’m going to stay they brought in a braille stick and a zimmer frame! But I’ve got no intention of leaving. You can see you’re doing some good and it’s bonding the community and The Salvation Army—it’s a great feeling.

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By Karen Lowe (c) 'War Cry' magazine,9 July 2016, pp 9
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.