What began as a way to fill time between jobs has turned into nearly a decade of service with Natureland for Roger Kenning.
Roger began volunteering at Natureland Wildlife Park after finding himself out of work, initially helping out with maintenance and food pickups.
For the past five years, he has also managed Natureland’s New to You store in central Nelson, a role he shares with one other staff member. The Hardy St store will celebrate its fifth birthday on Friday.
Roger still spends part of each day at the wildlife park, carrying out maintenance jobs before heading into town to run the store.
“No two days are the same,” Roger says when asked what he enjoys most about the role.
Despite having no formal retail experience, Roger did not hesitate to take on the challenge, drawing on his many years of selling “a few things online” to help value donated goods.
He says one of the highlights is seeing regular customers, some of whom visit multiple times a day.
Outside of work, Roger’s passion is motorbikes, both on-road and off-road.
The New to You store currently relies on a team of eight volunteers, whom Roger describes as “cool volunteers” with a wide range of skills.
“They’ve all got their different little things that they like doing, and their strengths. There are some very talented people at window displays,” he says.
Despite being open for five years, Roger says the store still surprises some shoppers.
“We still get people who didn’t know we we’re here, or didn’t realise we’re an arm of Natureland.”
Roger credits former Natureland manager Ruth Seabright with getting the store off the ground.
“You kind of think of op-shops as being nationwide, so we are a bit unique in that respect. We are the only one,” he says.
Birthday celebrations will run all of next week, with Roger promising some giveaways that are “bad for dental health”.
Shoppers who visit the New to You store on Hardy St can enter for the end-of-week giveaways, including up-close animal encounters at Natureland.
“The store is a great fit for Natureland, reuse, recycle, it’s all good for the environment,” Roger says.
