Education

MCC Thrift Shops are recycling pioneers

In 1972, the year that MCC Thrift Shops first opened in Altona, Manitoba, MCC announced a significant cutback in material aid requests. Used clothing from North America was not needed in countries where MCC was doing relief and it was less expensive and more appropriate to purchase the goods closer to the scene of the emergency.

Donations of clothing and household items continued to arrive in local depots and the idea of selling the goods locally and forwarding the proceeds to MCC was born. Volunteers in the newly opened thrift shops developed clever ideas for turning unwearable and unusable surplus items into blankets, pot holders, pencil cases, garden gates - the ideas are endless!

Why Shop Thrift?

1. Respect for the Environment:
   Reselling used goods means fewer items in the landfill
2. Respect Your Wallet:
   Prices are a fraction of traditional retail stores
3. Support Our World:
   Profits are used for relief, peace and justice through the work of Mennonite Central Committee

Our Principles of Operation

We commit ourselves to Christian faith in action by:

• Offering a friendly, caring presence in the community
• Volunteering our time and talents
• Receiving and reselling donated items
• Informing the churches and community of the Mennonite Central Committee mission
• Supporting the mission of Mennonite Central Committee by generating income

Find a Thrift Shop Near you.

Small-scale farmers do not alwasy reap the benefits of higher food prices.  Women farmers make up two-thirds of the world's farmers but continue to be a marginalized group within the agriculture sector.

Climate change, best characterized by extreme weather events such as droughts and floods, adversely affects the ability to produce food.

MCC-supported water and agriculture projects are part of MCC's long-term commitment to improve food production systems.

Learn more

Read more about the places where people are hungry today. Delve into global food issues.

Consider what you eat

Increasing meat consumption has helped drive up demand for grain, and with it the price. MCC just signed on to a campaign called the Cool Foods Pledge. Amongst other consumer actions, this campaign is calling for lower meat consumption.

MCC also is involved with End Hunger Fast, a similar campaign calling for lifestyle changes that may help reduce global hunger (see mcc.org/food for more information about these campaigns).

Support MCC food programs

MCC and its global partners are working hard toward food security for people around the globe. Learn more about MCC's food security projects.

If you are led to be a partner with MCC to help hungry people feed themselves, please specify “FOOD” on your gift or click here to donate.

Your contribution helps share food, a gift from God.

MCC meat canning

Pray or fast

The End Hunger Fast campaign of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank includes ideas for worship and reflection. You could pray for people in a specific village, town or region of the world as you read place names in newspapers. You might commit to praying for farmers close at hand and far away each time it rains. See End Hunger Fast.

Advocate

Write a letter to a politician encouraging more support for small scale farmers in developing countries.

            Sample Letter

            Postcard from Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Prices are increasing sharply for some of the most basic foodstuffs traded on international commodity markets. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that global food prices have risen by 40 percent over the last nine months, prompting fears that the world's poorest people will buy less food or less nutritious food or be forced to rely on aid.

These skyrocketing food prices triggered serious riots in the past month in 10 countries where Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) offers programs relating to food security. In partnership with local agencies MCC is closely monitoring the impact of the food crisis and formulating appropriate responses.

MCC has a long history of developing programs that address food security issues. MCC programs include direct food assistance, water projects, agricultural supports and working with community groups and governments to advocate for just trade and fair economic policies.

The food crisis shows the complexity of global food systems and the complex relationship between food prices and food justice.

For years food activists have complained about low food prices. The rationale for this begins with the fact that almost 70 percent of the world's chronically hungry people are farmers or farm labourers in developing countries.

Low food prices were actually causing hunger, so the argument went, because food producers were not receiving adequate compensation for their labours. This resulted in the tragic irony of hungry farmers.

Farm households that grow more food than they consume are now able to sell their produce at higher prices, providing them with more income for things like school fees and medicine. However, millions of farmers in developing countries are net food purchasers, meaning that they buy more than they raise, and they are better off with lower food prices.

So higher food prices are both blessing and curse for the world’s hungry farmers, but the complexity doesn’t stop there.

Try asking farmers in Canada and the U.S. what they think of the higher food prices of late. These farmers struggled for more than a decade with food commodity prices that were lower than the cost of production, pushing many of them out of farming and otherwise causing much stress and hardship. The situation was at least partly caused by low food prices. Who can blame these farmers for being happy with current situation?

Are you baffled about what to think about high food prices yet?

No one is arguing about whether or not the spike in food prices is driving up the overall number of hungry people. But it’s hard to say what the longer-term net impact of higher food prices will be. Adjustments of all sorts are being made at multiple levels in response to this situation.

With the higher cost of importing food, countries are realizing that it might make sense to invest in agricultural production at home. They don’t want to use all their hard-earned foreign currency on imported food.

Until recently, governmental spending on agriculture was in a decades-long decline. This resulted in inequities in places such as Kenya, where 80 percent of the population earn their living from agriculture, yet only three percent of government spending goes to support that sector.

With higher food prices, governments are rethinking their agriculture spending. Governments all over the world are announcing new plans to support their erstwhile beleaguered farm sectors. This could potentially benefit not only hungry farmers, but it could also lead to an increase in global food security.

These complexities in the global food system should not paralyze us. Instead, they should point us toward positive action.

MCC is launching a project to provide more than 50 schools in Kenya with 500 used computers, about eight to 10 computers for each school.

THis project is a partnership between MCC Kenya and Lari Memorial Peace Museum in the Lari District of Kenya.  The Lari Museum promotes inter-ethnic dialogue and peace education in schools.

Kenya has 42 major tribes and the Lari Museum is starting peace clubs in at least one larger primary or secondary school in each tribe to build bridges of communication across tribal boundaries.

You can help

Donate a used computer

Minimum requirements of computers and laptops

• 700MHz x 86processor
• 384 MB of system memory (RAM)
• 8 GB of disk space
• Graphics card capable of 1024 x 768 resolution
• Sound card
• A network or internet connection port
• Working monitors are welcome

If you have questions about the suitability of your computer please contact your nearest MCC office at 1-888-622-6337.

Contribute to shipping costs

$20 covers the cost of shipping one computer.  Donations to cover the cost of shipping the computers are welcome and can be made online or at your nearest MCC Office. 

Drop-Off locations

Call your local MCC for the nearest drop-off point .

For more information contact your nearest MCC Office.

Pursuing peace

Peace and justice are at the heart of MCC's work. People around the world are building peace, often at great risk to their own lives. Christians are called to model Jesus' example of courageous peacemaking, and MCC workers and projects support people making peace across the globe.