Hospices keep going thanks to bizarre sales

Used dentures, chamber pots, a shoe without its partner, sex toys and even unwashed underwear are some of the bizarre items South Africans have donated to charity shops.

And when it comes to sought-after items at the thrift shops, mommy porn such as Fifty Shades of Grey and the Kama Sutra barely have time to gather dust.

Last week British charity Oxfam asked people to stop donating The Da Vinci Code because its shops were overflowing with Dan Brown's mystery detective novel.

Local charity shop managers say it's the same in South Africa, but are unlikely to turn down the Code.

Some said "eccentric and unusual" novels were usually bestsellers in South African charity shops.

"I recently came across a book on witch spells for the inexperienced, which sold instantly. It seems that the stranger and more unusual a book, the quicker it sells," said Stellenbosch Hospice's Noor Docrat.

Stellenbosch Hospice runs three of 38 hospice shops around the country.

Docrat said the shop never refused a donation, no matter how eccentric, weird or old, because "every donation has a story to tell".

She said it received a donation last week of a brown wooden suitcase with the initials TG and a peeling old sticker with German writing on the side.

She believed it had mystery story to it.

"The locks on the suitcase were difficult, if not impossible, to open, so we displayed it in the hope of someone buying it as decor. A well-dressed woman in her late 50s walked into our boutique store and stood still at the entrance. She was completely and utterly shocked, excited and speechless all in one.

"She reached for the suitcase, stating that it was her suitcase when she was a young girl.

"It turned out that her family left Germany and she could remember using this exact suitcase to travel," Docrat said.

The woman easily opened the lock, explaining that the mechanism had always been tricky.

Hospice staff were excited and assumed that she would want to buy her old suitcase, but the woman walked away, saying it held too many painful memories.

While local charity shops are no match for those in the UK and the US - where a thrift-shop culture is common - loyal local customers pop in at least twice a week.

Lindsey Concer of the Durban and Coast SPCA said: "We have regular supporters who visit us more than once a week.

"Plus we have a monthly bargain-hunt market on the last Saturday of the month. This is so popular that often people push each other out of the way and fight to get to the items they want."

Durban resident Penny Olivier pops into Highway Hospice's shop in Pinetown at least twice a week.

"I have been shopping there for about five years and am always on the lookout for vintage goods at a bargain.

"I think shopping at charity shops also allows me to be creative.

"If I am having a themed dinner party, I can go all out and buy items at a low price and just donate them back the next week," she said.

On average most thrift shops make about R100,000 a month, but this is still way below the cost of running organisations like Hospice or the SPCA.

Highway Hospice needs about R1.2-million a month to cover the cost of providing free care for 700 terminally ill patients, paying salaries, training caregivers and nurses in palliative care, and running grief and bereavement support groups.

"This all has to be funded by donations, fundraising and charity shops. We receive no funding from the government. Hospice does not charge for its services," said Highway Hospice CEO Linda Webb.

"Charity shops in South Africa are nowhere near what the UK and US have, but it is steadily growing.

"I believe it is mostly the bigger charities, such as the hospices and SPCA, that have charity shops, with a few smaller ones realising the potential of the funding they can provide," said Webb. 

Sheryll de Jager, Highway Hospice charity shop manager, said: "The setback for a lot of charities is the rental [cost] of premises, if they are not able to have them at their own premises."

Potty donations welcome

Most bizarre: Used dentures, chamber pots from bygone days, fluffy handcuffs, unwashed underwear, prosthetics and family photographs.

Most donated: Books, clothing, household goods including plastic containers missing their lids, coffee percolators and Sodastream machines, and foot spas.

Most purchased: Romance and erotic books, clothing, appliances and furniture.

(Sourced from Highway Hospice, Stellenbosch Hospice, South Coast Hospice, Supporting Animals in Needy Times, Durban and Coast SPCA and Kloof and Highway SPCA)

nairn@timesmedia.co.za