GIRRAWHEEN Lions Club has secured a permanent location for its weekend swap mart.
It has been allowed use of the grassed area near the carpark at Kingsway City Shopping Centre in Madeley every Saturday from 7 to 11am.
The club had to look for a new location after it was forced to leave the Newpark Shopping Centre, which it had used for three decades.
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READ NOWThe request to stop running the swap mart at the shopping centre in Girrawheen came after Newpark Holdings received several complaints from community members about parking issues.
So after 30 years of operating from Templeton Crescent, the club had to look for another home in June last year.
Kingsway centre management offered the club a two-month trial and has now approved permanency.
Club treasurer Brian Anderson said the group relied financially on the Kingsway swap mart as its main source of income.
“Locally, funds we raise from the swap mart are allocated to projects such as scholarships to high school and primary students to assist parents who need financial help for school fees and books,” he said.
“We also help the senior citizens and numerous welfare cases throughout the area.”
Money from the swap mart also helps the club give financial support to organisations including the Cancer Council, the Leukaemia Foundation, Lions Prostate Research, Lions Hearing Dogs, Guide Dogs WA, Save Sight Foundation, Lions Eye Institute and Spinal Cord Fellowship.
“Without the swap mart we would not be in a position to help these groups and the ones to suffer would be the local community, which is where the majority of our funds are used,” Mr Anderson said.
City of Wanneroo councillor Hugh Nguyen, who worked with centre management to secure the permanency, said the swap mart was a great way to build and help those in need in the community.
“I urge buyers and sellers alike to continue supporting this great cause,” Cr Nguyen said.
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