Grateful shop volunteer gives back to Red Cross
| 19 May 2008
Elizabeth has volunteered at the Red Cross charity shop in Romsey for the past six years, driven by the desire to help the organisation that supported her family during the Second World War. | |
| She said: “I decided to volunteer at the local shop to give something back to the British Red Cross. During the Second World War my parents were medical missionaries in Shanghai, when the family was interned in a large warehouse by the docks. I was only a baby at the time. | | |  | |
| “The warehouse building we were held in was marked by a large Red Cross emblem painted on the roof which protected the families from attack by Allied aircraft and enabled the Red Cross to identify where to drop the food parcels. My parents felt that the Red Cross parcels kept us alive.
“The Red Cross also passed family messages between home and the internees twice a year. At the end of the war our family returned on the first prisoner of war ship back to the UK via Colombo and the Suez Canal where the Red Cross looked after us. It was here that I was given my first proper bath at the age of four and provided with new clothes, chosen by my mother, made from ‘recycled’ items.”
Charity shop volunteering
Elizabeth loves many things about being a charity shop volunteer but particularly values the people she has been able to meet.
She explained: “The shop provides a really supportive environment for all those who come in, both customers and volunteers. There is a great volunteer team here and shop volunteering can really help those who are isolated or going through a low patch. It is a motivating environment to be in as it encourages volunteers to get involved while also being good fun.”
“I have really enjoyed volunteering at the Red Cross shop and have made new friends. I have also gained the satisfaction of feeling that I have given something back to the Red Cross.
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