Prisoners to refurbish shipping containers into op shop

The concept for the shipping container op shop, which will be located in Rānui, West Auckland.

An unlikely partnership has formed between a charity for vulnerable women and Auckland prisoners.

Auckland prisoners will transform two 6-metre shipping containers into an op shop for Shakti NZ, a community group which supported women and families.

The op shops were aimed at creating and marketing up-cycled, refurbished and re-purposed goods for the community.

Once completed, in six to eight weeks, the containers would provide affordable shopping, raise money for Shakti and provide jobs in Rānui.

Shakti NZ council member Farida Sultana said the project would provide skill development and employment opportunities for vulnerable women.

The agreement for prisoners to work on refurbish shipping containers was signed on April 19. Front from left: Fathin Doray, Melanie Hohua, Farida Sultana, Jeanette Burns, and Gloria Andzue. Back from left: Helen Haslam, David Grear, Charmaine Pountney, Frank Tonetti, and Purabi Bhuiyan.

“We will be teaching women sewing and other skills [so] they could make things at home and bring it, and then we will buy it to sell in the shop.”

Sultana said much of the work within the op shop would be done by women survivors of abuse and violence, creating pathways for the women to become skilled members of the workforce.

“This is a positive project that prisoners can also get engaged with too, which means they are giving something back to the community.”

Corrections’ Northern Regional commissioner Jeanette Burns said it gave prisoners skills which would help them find jobs when released.

 – Stuff