Church’s secondhand shops fund youth scholars, livelihood

Caritas Manila’s charity store project “Segunda Mana” (secondhand) continues to expand as it seeks to help more youth scholars and poor families in the country.

Fr. Anton Pascual, Caritas Manila’s executive director, led the opening of Segunda Mana outlet at Ali Mall in Cubao, Quezon City on Thursday.

Pascual encouraged the faithful to donate their pre-loved items like clothes, accessories, appliances, and school supplies that can still be recycled and reused.

“’Yung mga segunda mano, ipamana n’yo na. Itong mga gamit nating preloved items, mga inventories, mga nasa bodega lang ng bahay natin, damit, equipment, mga libro na hindi na natin ginagamit, pwede nating i-donate sa Segunda Mana,” Pascual said.

(Let others inherit your secondhand items. Our preloved items, inventories, the things in our houses’ bodegas, clothes, equipment, books not being used anymore, we can donate it to Segunda Mana.)

“Ito ay nire-recycle sa Segunda Mana, nire-repair at ibinebenta sa ating mga Charity Outlets. At ‘yung napagbentahan nito, ginagamit sa about 5,000 scholars nationwide at ‘yung almost over 400 ukay-ukay urban poor families sa Baseco at Tondo,” he added.

(Segunda Mana recycles these items, repairing them and selling them in our Charity Outlets. And the earnings of these are used for around 5,000 scholars nationwide and almost over 400 urban poor families in Baseco and Tondo.)

Caritas is the leading social arm of the Archdiocese of Manila.

As of today, Pascual said Segunda Mana has over 25 charity outlets in the country, aside from ambulant stores near churches. The donation-in-kind program, which sells donated items about 40 percent lower than the original price, has garnered P70 million in sales last year, he added.

The proceeds are being used to fund scholarships and livelihood of microentreprenuers from urban poor communities. For more details, visit https://www.caritasmanila.org.ph/. JE/rga