Church-run shop volunteers receive prestigious award for a long time of service

A gaggle of Christian volunteers have been honoured with The King’s Award for Voluntary Service (KAVS.

Choices is a community shop established by St John’s Church in Carluke, South Lanarkshire. It is run by around 40 volunteers from different local churches.

The shop sells a variety of things, including good quality second-hand goods, nonetheless it also provides space for people to come back and receive counselling, work experience, employment skills or just someone to listen.

Jack Battison, the treasurer of Choices, said that staff and volunteers on the shop “feel truly honoured and thrilled” to have their service recognised with the honour.

He added that the project was an ideal example of what Christians from different churches can achieve after they “work together in a typical purpose” within the name of Jesus Christ.

The shop was established in 1993, a minimum of partially in response to the closure of the Ravenscraig Steel Works in nearby Motherwell. Around 1,200 jobs were lost when the works closed in 1992, and the knock-on effects likely cost many more hundreds their employment.

Financial hardship and high unemployment in the world increased the necessity for a ministry like Choices.

Although initially a Church of Scotland project, members of the local Catholic and United Reformed Church’s also quickly became involved.

In the 32 years of its operation the shop has revamped £1.2 million in sales, the overwhelming majority of which (£850,000) has gone to charities like Christian Aid, Clydesdale Foodbank, St Andrews Hospice, local youth organisations and international disaster appeals.

Battison said, “The shop is run entirely by unpaid volunteers who give their time to assist the community. Many of those ladies have been working within the shop for over 20 and in some cases 30 years. This shows true dedication to the ethos of Choices, churches helping others in community evangelistic service.

“We should all feel happy with what has been and is being achieved through Choices and send Isobel and her staff our thanks and congratulations. We thank all those that have given donations of products and their support to the shop through the years.”