Shop volunteer misses the point 1

Fundraising | Gareth Jones | 28 Jul 2009

Charity shops may be finding it increasingly hard to find quality stock, but one went too far when it sold a walking stick belonging to one of its volunteers.

Irene Drane, who works at the Macmillan Cancer Support charity shop in Perth, had bought the new cane after a hip replacement operation, only for a fellow volunteer to sell it thinking it was a donation.

She told the Sunday Mail: "I put my stick in the back shop and didn't realise it had gone until I went for the bus and my hip was hurting.

"We had a hunt around the shop for the stick then it dawned on us one of the ladies had sold it for £2.

"Luckily we'd had another stick handed in, not as nice as mine but good enough to get me home. We have had a good laugh about it but I am putting my name on my stick from now on."

Macmillan's director in Scotland, Elspeth Atkinson, said: "Irene is a tireless worker for Macmillan and we are very grateful for all the time she has given us.

"I'm glad she has seen the funny side of this. She has been a really good sport."

Directory: Macmillan

Place a comment

B Gower
23 Jul 2009

Whilst the story is quite amusing, does Macmillan Cancer Support not have a moral and perhaps legal obligation to its volunteer? Did they offer to replace the stick with one that was at least 'as nice as mine' or did they offer to compensate the volunteer in any other way. After, she is volunteering her time and did not actually donate her stick? Whilst this may be able to be laughed off in this case, there may be situations where a volunteer comes in with more valuable items - a coat or pair of crutches for instance- and the accidental sale may have more serious implications.

[Reply]

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.