Wow, Intercept is one year old this week! We had a birthday party lunch yesterday in Whangarei to celebrate. Most of our fabulous volunteers made it along.
We'd just like to share some details that emerged yesterday of how we've done, plus a little vision of the future.
What started as an idea from Jenny Hill just over a year ago has become a social enterprise with around 24 volunteers. We now have the fabulous Intercept store within the Salvation Army Family Store in Whangarei, with more than 1000 Intercept products produced so far.
Nick Garforth, the Area Family Store Manager for the Far North, yesterday gave us the statistics of what Intercept has achieved for the Salvation Army Store in Whangarei:
- More than $14,000 in sales from the Intercept shop in 6 months.
- Intercept has prevented 3.4 tons of textiles going to the landfill.
- This has saved the Salvation Army $1,650 in tipping fees.
Daniela Johnson is our volunteer who manages the distribution of surplus clothing and bedding. She estimates that around 50 banana boxes of textiles go out to the community each month. This includes: woollens, denim and silk to specialist designers; children's dress-up costumes to playcentres and kohanga reo; infant clothes to Plunket; items to rest homes; and pet bedding to the SPCA.
So what's next??
- A new Intercept outlet is now being set up at Plunket Whangarei. This will have a rack of clothing for 0-5 year olds, plus bedding, which will be free to families.
- At the suggestion of Nick, we are looking at setting up pop-up Intercept stores within the Kerikeri and Dargaville Salvation Army Family Stores. We're still working on the details for these, but would be interested in hearing from any potential volunteers in these areas.
Onwards for Intercept! If we've done this well with Covid 19, as well as a flood that closed the store for a week in July 2020, then 2021 could be even better.
