Store supports diabetes research

Value Village has opened in the Parkland Mall in Yorkton and that is good news for more than customers.

While the 19,000-square foot store will offer another shopping option, and employ more than 40 staff, it will also benefit the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) and the environment, said store manager Kerri Hudgins.

"Every store affiliates with a non-profit organization," she explained, adding in the case of the Yorkton store they are partnering with the CDA.

When items are brought to the store by patrons, and dropped off the centre during regular store hours, they are eventually bulk weighed, and the CDA receives payment based on the pounds of material collected.

In terms of what Value Village will take, Hudgins said they accept everything except large furniture. So whether someone has clothes which no longer fit, or have dishes they no longer need, or books they want to get rid of, they can be donated to Value Village, and the CDA will benefit from the donation.

Hudgins added what is collected locally is what is sold through the store locally.

"What we get is what we get," she said.

Charlotte Bailey, operations manager with the Saskatchewan branch of the CDA, said working with Value Village in Yorkton, and other centres in the province has been very good for her Association.

"It's the ultimate. It really is. It's win-win," she said.

Bailey said on one hand the environment wins because so much material is recycled.

"And the money we raise goes into research," she added.

In terms of funding research, Bailey said it is important given the prevalence of diabetes in Saskatchewan and Canada.

"More than 20 Canadians are diagnosed (with diabetes) every hour of every day," she said, adding there are 75,000 people with diabetes in Saskatchewan or "seven per cent of the population."

Over the next decade it is expected the number in the province will rise to 111,000, or 9.9 per cent of the population.

And those numbers come with a cost, about $419 million in 2010, and growing to $532 million over the next decade, said Bailey.

In some cases materials donated to Value Village may not be salable, but Hudgins said in such cases Value Village focuses on recycling.

"We recycle what we don't use. We don't throw anything out," she said.

In some cases material may end up shipped to those in need in other countries, or old clothes might be recycled to use as machine shop rags, Hudgins explained.

Through the store sales and recycling thousands of pounds of items are re-used in one way or another through Value Village.

"It would all be in the landfill if we weren't here," said Hudgins.

The Yorkton location will be open 9-to-9 Monday-to-Saturday, and 10-to-6 Sundays.