Age Concern 1

Age Concern Need What You Don’t
By Keith Nicol

THE FINANCIAL crisis is hitting many other areas of our community that you may at first, not even think of. And some of those feeling the inch are local charities. Yes, even Charities are feeling the pressure and one in particular, Age Concern said “ In 15 years on the Costa Blanca we have never encountered such hard times. We are finding it very hard to cover all our costs and to make sure our beneficiaries are receiving the excellent care they are used to. Our shops in Torrevieja and Los Montesinos need your help with donations of clothes, bric-a-brac, bedding and small items of furniture. Please think of us as you do your spring-cleaning and bring any items to either of our shops or to the Day Centre in La Siesta.”

If you have any unwanted items, Age Concern would be delighted to take them off your hands for you. Age Concern opened their first Charity shop, on C/Carino, almost 15 years ago and opened their new shop, close to Torrevieja’s bus station, on the corner of C/ Patricio Zamat and Concordia in 2005. A lot has changed over the last eight years, from the heady times of the property boom years through to today. Their Torrevieja shop was custom designed with special display areas, making it easy to navigate and find items, with an area out back for storage, steam cleaning and ironing of clothes, plus typical office duties and bookkeeping.

Speaking of bookkeeping, Age Concern still have to pay rent for their premises, power, water, security, phones plus IVA of 21% on everything sold. They try to keep their prices as competitive as possible but until these basic costs are met, they cannot put ‘profits’ back into their valuable work. There is good reasoning behind their Torrevieja location as it is very popular with International clients, especially the Spanish, South Americans, Russians and East Europeans while in Los Montesinos, there tends to be a slightly different selection of goods as the majority of visitors are expatriates.

Age Concern shops are always seeking volunteers who can give them just four hours of their time each week to help out. The shops are in great need of clothing, bric-a-brac, small items of furniture, records, DVD’s books and almost anything you don’t need. Once a month, at the Age Concern HQ in La Siesta, they hold an electrical goods sale on the first Wednesday while on the last Tuesday, they have a special 1.00€, with everything on sale for just an euro! Don’t worry of you can’t get to any of the shops or the drop-in centre as Age Concern can also collect; just phone 966 786 887. Every little bit helps and don’t forget, that we all get a little bit older every day, so you may be glad of the support of Age Concern yourself one day.