One of the
projects that was presented to me when I first arrived, was to help with the
development of a “Thrift Store or Second-Hand Store”. One of Cheshire Home’s missions is to help those with
disabilities establish independent living and employment. Through the Malaysian Government, if
one whom has a disability and can provide documentation that they are employed they will receive an additional 300rm (which is about $100) government grant a
month. So the main
objective for the development of this store is to employ someone who has a
disability so that can gain income, live independently and achieve government
grants.
At first
glance the store looked like a storage closest and I had no idea where to
start, nor was I familiar on how to begin the development up a business. The original floor plan was to have two
rooms of clothing, a room of toys, a book room, a show room/ checkout area, a
couple of storage rooms and a workshop.
Back in October, I decided to pick a room and start organizing one thing
at a time. I helped create flyers
for donations, put together a press release for the paper and posted messages
on our FB page. Another step was to find employees for the store, our
first set of interviews were held in November, and unfortunately we were unable
to find someone eligible for the position. After that, things slowed down, the holidays hit and the
development of the store got put to the side. Then in January we had a big rainstorm and the store
flooded, some furniture had to be thrown out, clothes had to be rewashed and
any kind of organization that was started had to be moved out.
It was a
challenge to get everyone motivated again (even myself), as we were afraid
another storm would hit and another flood would happen. But after the New Year and the Chinese
New Year died down, I reached out to a Cheshire Home committee member and a
personal friend. She had already known
about the “Thrift Store” as it has been a working progress for the past four
years, but she listened to my challenges and my ideas. So we decided to work together and
brainstorm on a new plan.
First
impressions are always big, so we started there – ‘what was our first
impression’ and ‘what should be the first impression’. After discussion we knew we needed to
upgrade. We decided to start by creating a more welcoming and appealing look to the store.
We explored ideas for a showroom,
themed rooms, and soon we became interior designers through Google images. The idea was fun, fancy and something
new, but the thought dawned on us…would it get approved by the staff and
committee. Our first step was to
put together a proposal for a remodeling project of the ‘store’. We included, of course, the “five
‘Ws and the ‘how are you going to get the money for this’ and the look and feel
of the new layout. I presented the
proposal to my supervisor in early February and received an approval.
During
these last couple of weeks we have found sponsorships, painted the rooms and
added new flooring. This past week
many of us have been working hard on cleaning and organizing. On Saturday there will be a committee
meeting held at the office and the plan is to showcase the new design and the
progress of the store. The project
has been hard work and there are still many things that need be done, but to
finally see progress has become a true reward. We are hoping to have our grand opening in the beginning of
April 2012.
