An increasing number of immigrant and refugee families can be found shopping at local MCC thrift stores in our region.

Many newcomer families arrive in Canada with limited financial resources, and that's where the thrift stores are playing a important role, according to MCC Executive Director Darryl Loewen.

"We think the stores are playing an vital role for many of these families and we're glad about that. The thrift shops are providing quality, pre-used household items and clothing which we think is an important way to nurture sustainable households for newcomers."

Loewen suggested the situation for many newcomer families is similar to Mennonite families who have emigrated to Manitoba over the last century and a half who had very little in the way of material resources when arriving here.

He points out that many of the volunteers working in the thrift shops have a very vivid sense, or perhaps a first generation memory of those kinds of circumstances in their own families.

"I like to use the example of a pair of pants. It's common for a pair of jeans to go for two or three dollars in an MCC thrift shop where even the best bargain brand might be six or seven times that much in a regular retail location. That's a $15.00 dollar savings to a newcomer family on every pair of pants, which is a big support," said Loewen.

Loewen said the 16 thrift stores scattered across Manitoba have filled an important niche for local residents in their communities for decades, and he's glad to see how that has expanded to the refugee and immigrant community as well.

"We're pleased to be part of it and thrilled at the way these stores generate resources which can then be reinvested in shops in local communities, but also in international programs in countries which are the homes and source locations for so many newcomers to this province."