Pre-loved Lego helps keep rent paid, roofs over heads
Kent Roberts of Charity Bricks and Aus Living Support Marketing Director Dessi Mitzeva in the Lego room.
Those little pieces of plastic that litter the floor of so many homes with children can help keep someone else in a house.
Pre-loved Lego has raised thousands of dollars for Aus Living Support, a Sunshine Coast-based charity helping people who need a hand to pay their rent or mortgage.
Charity Bricks, housed in a room off the Aus Living Support op-shop in Howard Street, Nambour, has so far generated $25,000 in income to help people meet their payments.
Aus Living Support project officer Kent Roberts decided to try a re-selling Lego after seeing the success of other Lego stores.
“I do a bit of Lego myself and after collecting Lego for the last five or six years, I had an excess of Lego and saw another way we could make some money for the charity,” he said.
Kent pulled more than 20 plastic tubs containing about 300kg of excess Lego out of his Lego room
Kent pulled more than 20 plastic tubs containing about 300kg of excess Lego out of his Lego room at home to stock the shop for starters about a year ago.
The Lego room is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays and has proven popular with all Lego customers of all types.
“I’ve had a few people who have been looking for a particular part for a Lego set they’ve been trying to complete,” Kent said.
“I’ve had grandparents come in trying to complete Lego sets they had for their children so the grandchildren can play with them now.
“Often they had Lego and lost pieces and now they’re trying to replace the pieces they’ve lost over the years.
“And then there’s parents who come in and buy a bag of random Lego so their kids can let their imaginations run wild and build things.”
Kent often has an idea where to look to find just the piece that someone needs.
“I’ve had people come in and find that piece they’ve been looking for years. You see the joy on their faces and the excitement because they can finally complete a set they’ve had for years and put it on the shelf.”
Aus Living Support is at 102 Howard Street Nambour.