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#23 - How One Op Shop Gave Back $1 Million—and Changed Lives Forever with Theo Van Bezouwen

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The Hillview Op Shop demonstrates how a social enterprise can harness community spirit to create a remarkable impact by transforming donated goods into life-changing community initiatives. Manager Theo Van Bezouwen shares the inspiring evolution of what locals affectionately call "the David Jones of op shops" — a 2,000-square-metre operation that generated over $1 million for community projects in the past year alone.

What began as one church member's vision in 2018 has grown into a bustling hub powered by more than 150 volunteers from diverse backgrounds. Throughout our conversation, Theo reveals how these volunteers — many arriving with their struggles, from health challenges to broken relationships — find healing and purpose through their service. "Some of them come here with problems," Theo explains, "but once they volunteer here for a while, those problems seem to disappear because they feel wanted, needed, respected and valued."

The ripple effects of this community powerhouse extend far beyond its walls. University scholarships support students who are often the first in their families to pursue higher education. Mental health initiatives through the Avondale Community Counselling Centre provide accessible support for those in need. Emergency relief programs assist survivors of domestic violence and elder abuse with essential items and financial support. Behind each initiative lies the organization's guiding principle: "What's the loving thing to do?"

Perhaps most moving are the stories of transformation — from the elderly shopper who visits weekly not just for bargains but for connection to the volunteer who received flowers during a mental health crisis and felt the embrace of her "Hillview family" when she needed it most. These moments reveal the true mission behind the merchandise: creating a community where everyone belongs.

Ready to contribute to this powerful vision? Whether through donations, shopping, or volunteering, Theo's advice is simple: "Don't leave it forever. Go out and do it today."

Connect with Hillview Op Shop at 0407 497 855 or theo@mdhs.com.au and discover how giving back might change your life.

Follow Hillview Op Shop on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/people/Hillview-Op-Shop/61572862858370/

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Thank you for listening!

Leon Goltsman:

Hello and welcome back to Engaging Conversations. I'm your host, Leon Goltsman, and, as always, I'm thrilled to have you join me here for another thought-provoking episode. Before we begin, I want to take a moment to acknowledge our valuable sponsor, someone whose values and dedication to the community align deeply with the conversations we have on the show, Niaz Cannoth, creating opportunities and making lasting impact. His commitment to ethical investment and community driven initiatives echoes the very themes we explore here on Engaging Conversations. And that brings us to today's episode, because if there's one place where generosity and community spirit come to life, it's at Hillview Op Shop.

Leon Goltsman:

This isn't just a place to find secondhand goods op shop. This isn't just a place to find secondhand goods. It's a social enterprise that, in the last year alone, has given back over $1 million to the community, from funding scholarships to supporting mental health initiatives. They're proving that every donation and every purchase fuels something much larger. At the helm of this incredible operation is Theo Van Bezouwen, a leader, a visionary and a man on a mission. What started as a simple church initiative has grown into a powerhouse of goodwill, powered by over 150 volunteers and a relentless drive to make a difference. Today we'll hear about the impact they've made, the lives they've changed, and how giving back isn't just an act, it's a way of life. This is a conversation about purpose, transformation and the power of community, and so, without further ado, let's get into it.

Theo Bezouwen:

My name's Theo VermaVan Bezouwen. I'm the actual op shop manager here for Hillview Op Shop, so I started here in 2024. I took over from the previous manager here who was here for about two or three years, so I've been doing it just over 12 months now. It's been a big learning curve for me because I come from a private industry background, so I've worked for myself pretty well my whole life. I've only worked for an employee for about four or five years. So being self-employed and you know calling the shots and everything like that coming here with volunteers is, I suppose, working with people is much the same. I love working with people, I love building capacity and I love challenging people to do the things that they want to do.

Leon Goltsman:

So here, I am at the op shop, thank you, and thank you very much for speaking with us. The Hillview op shop has become a cornerstone in the community, encouraging generosity and support. Could you share the journey that led to its establishment and the impact it's having since it's opened?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yes, I was about in 2018, a lady from Hillview Church, actually one of the congregation members down there. She had a bit of a dream, a vision, to start an op shop. The church was very supportive of these type of things and it started off in Tugra and then, unfortunately, we had COVID hit in 2019. The op shop was sort of bumping around and they moved from Tugra here to Morissette and that was a really big leap of faith. It was going all right at Tugger I believe I wasn't there at the time but when this building we're in currently in Morissette came available. It's a 2,000 square metre building but it was divided up into three sections. The landlord let us have a third of it and the other third with no rent charge for about six months until we grew and expanded into it. But it was this lady's vision that led to the beginning of the op shop. It was also the support of the church which helped back it to happen. It was the church's decision. There was a business plan proposed which was put to ADRA Australia. At the time ADRA had about 30 op shops and we just become one of those op shops.

Theo Bezouwen:

As soon as the op shop started here, it hit the ground running.

Theo Bezouwen:

There was currently maybe about 20 or 30 volunteers working elsewhere in the community and they straight away come across to support this one because it was local and close to the home for them. The op shop soon grew out of its capacity, just having two-thirds of the building here with the amount of donations we received and people were starting to walk over the top of one another. And it was about a couple of years after that that the other third of the building, which was leased to a caravan company, they ended up moving out that we also took over that third. And that's about when I come into the scene of things. So I had a bit to do with the remodelling and the layouts of the shop. I've got a bit of a background in time and motion and it was all about trying to make the operation as streamlined as possible so that when goods were donated in the shop here that they could be easily dropped off, sorted and handled and put on the shelves and stuff go to the tip and that.

Leon Goltsman:

Well, it's certainly grown dramatically because, with over 150 active volunteers, the Hillview Op Shop thrives on community involvement. What motivates individuals to volunteer and how does their participation strengthen the shop's mission?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah, look, we couldn't run the op shop without volunteers. They're the core of this business. So I think originally, when I first started, it was sort of a bit frowned upon to actually spend money on volunteers. But it's my belief that the volunteers are the backbone of the shop and you've got to give them the resources and the tools needed to carry out their jobs as best as possible. So, number one I look after their health and the quality of the work they do here.

Theo Bezouwen:

So what we find when volunteers first sign up they come here for a number of reasons. Some of them are going through health issues, some of them are lost partners, some of them come from broken relationships, some from domestic violence and that, and some just come from a church or a Christian background where they want to help community. So they're the type of demographic we have here, but it's a healthy thing. Some of them come here with problems, but once they come and volunteer here for a while, those problems seem to go away because they feel wanted, needed, respected and valued in the work they do here. They're just amazing stories when you talk to them and sometimes I look at them and they're just like they're broken people when they first come here.

Theo Bezouwen:

But after they've been here for a few months, like you know, I go to thank them and they're actually thanking us for coming and and being part of this shop, and so what you're doing is you're uniting people, aren't you? Oh, absolutely, look we. We want to just bring the team together and and I like challenging them all I like I like trying to lift their capacities and abilities and that and take them a bit out of their comfort zone and get them to do things that they've probably never done in the past.

Leon Goltsman:

And you're certainly doing that because, as individuals, they are growing. And speaking of growing and expansion 2,000 square meters that's remarkable. How has this growth allowed you to better serve the community and what are the new opportunities that it's presented?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah. So having the 2,000 square metres of undercover roof area and on top of that we've got about 300 or 400 square metres of off-carport area, which allows people to drop things off in wet weather and out of the elements and in a shaded area, the drop-off area makes it so easy for people to come and drop their donations. But also we've got the shops split up into different workstations and categories. So we've got like clothing categories, hardware categories, you know, a book and library bric-a-brac, there's crockery and there's different teams of people in those areas that work there. We also have category managers, so each category has a manager and a team below it. And then for every day of the week we open we also have day managers and we have backup day managers. So for day managers a way that backup manager can fall in so we've got a whole management team of probably about 30 plus people that help make the shop work.

Leon Goltsman:

Well, the people here aren't here because they have to be here. They want to be here and you can see that they're giving it their all. I've noticed as well that there's a lot of products here, and the proceeds from the op shop have funded various community projects, including university scholarships and support for the homeless. Could you elaborate on these initiatives and their significance?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah. So some of the projects we fund here, like the high school scholarships, it started off a little bit of a time and obviously that grew as the funds here grew, or surplus funds here grew, and what we found was we're forming relationships and connections with the funding recipients, but also, more importantly, we're also forming relationships with the kids in the community. Some of these kids that apply for the scholarships they come from broken homes or families and they're actually the first kids in their families to actually go to university. So that's always an amazing thing we find. So them having some sort of mentors outside of the school system here to rely on and communicate with them is a big thing for us. So whenever we fund a project, we'd like to stay closely connected with them, because I see ourselves as also facilitators in the community. There's there's things we can all share and learn with, with other groups. We don't all have to go through the pain of just doing it alone.

Leon Goltsman:

So I'm quite passionate about building capacity through the whole community here, and I suppose that's what it's all about building people, building communities. I've also, you know, walking around and I know there's always this misconception that people walk into an op shop and it's things that nobody wants. But this op shop is often referred to as the David Jones op shop due to its quality offerings. How do you ensure a high standard of goods, and what role do donations play in this?

Theo Bezouwen:

The public just come and drop their stuff off. We try to ensure that we don't get any rubbish dumped here because otherwise we've got to pay to actually remove it from site. Here at the waste disposal centre the stuff gets categorised in the different categories, it gets sorted with the different teams and the products get cleaned and put onto the shelves. Leon, we get a lot of different items get donated to the shop here and there's just some amazing stuff, like we get stuff from deceased estates where, like, the whole house gets cleaned out and everything gets taken here and sometimes we even find like suitcases or bags still with money in it. We get jewellery items, we even get gold and that we take over to the gold dealers and we get that traded in for cash and returned back. But look, and there's some antique items you know that get donated and some of those stuff we try to sell online so we can maximise the return on those, so that can be returned back into our surplus for projects. So one of the things that makes the op shop popular here, I think, is our close connection with community, the fact that all the funds we raise, every single cent, goes back into the local community. We do at times. If there's disaster or storm elsewhere, we do actually funnel money into those areas as well as needed. Disaster or storm elsewhere, we do actually funnel money into those areas as well as as needed.

Theo Bezouwen:

But we're we're very passionate about making change in this local area here. Some of our visions for the future are our mental health space. So currently we fund Avondale Community Counselling Centre, which has about two or three counsellors and then they actually have student placements that come here as well. So we'd like to expand that facility as well In the future. We'd like to have a social worker and also somebody to help folk to fill in paperwork and forms and navigate that myriad of paperwork when you lose a loved one, or a lady loses a husband, and he used to do all the banking and the registrations and that people get lost doing that. So we'd like to have somebody to help in that place.

Leon Goltsman:

Yeah, so each product, each donation isn't just a product. It lets people know, it translates and transfers to people knowing that someone is looking after them and they're not alone, that someone cares, and I suppose that's the essence of providing community service.

Theo Bezouwen:

Oh look, it is. And one of the things we find about the actual shoppers that come in the shop. Some of them come here on a weekly basis, sometimes more than once or twice a week. I think the commercial side of them buying something is just an excuse just for them to come here and connect with the volunteers. You get to know them one-on-one on a first-name basis and we get to share their journeys as well. I've got a few people come through here at the moment who are suffering cancer or have lost loved ones. A lady was here the other day and her son just passed away an elderly lady. So they come and confide these things in us and in the volunteers here because this is their safe place in community. This is a place they like to come and visit and feel safe at?

Leon Goltsman:

Yeah, definitely, and thank you for sharing that with me. It really is touching. You know, volunteering is so important and we see quite a bit of it, but we never see enough. We can always do with a lot more, and I suppose collaboration seems to be the key to everybody's success, or certainly is to yours. How have partnerships with local businesses, schools and other organisations increased the shop's impact?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yes, one of the interesting things we find through the shop here is our relationship with the businesses in the area. So there's a local car works business up the road, jenny and Pete, and they like to support our volunteers or customers who come through the shop who need any car works, car repairs and stuff done. So they often say if there's anybody in need, send them up their way. They're more than happy to look after them. But just the connections we make with some of the local schools. So, leon, we've had great support from our local members. We've had the Hunter member, dan Rapicelli, come in the shop here, spend some time with our volunteers, actually quite a number of hours. We've also had Adam Schultz, the Lake Macquarie Council Mayor, and our member, greg Piper, has been in as well. So we get great support from our local members in here in the op shop and it's just great to have the community come together here.

Leon Goltsman:

It's great when you've got local state federal members coming along and helping out like that. It means that they want to get involved and of course, it's always encouraging when people from the community want to get involved and for those inspired to contribute. What are the various ways individuals can get involved with the Hillview op shop or similar initiatives in their communities?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah, so it's quite easy to come and volunteer at the Hillview Op Shop. All you've got to do is just come on down, meet with one of our day managers, and it's a simple enrolment process. We just get some of your details down a computer and we don't have set times here. You're a volunteer, so you can just come and go whenever you feel, like most people we find, once they've been here for a few hours, they just don't want to leave. You know, they just love the place that much. They just want to stay. Currently it's thursday night. We have a thursday night shift. We've just started that. Recently, because of the hot weather, we've started a five o'clock to eight o'clock night shift and we have a meal together. Sometimes we go up the shop and buy a bit of local takeaway and it's just been an amazing time, uh, sharing these, these times together and even when, when I come past and I and I pop in, the volunteers are really lovely people.

Leon Goltsman:

It makes I feel at home every time I come up here yeah, they're just loving people and what?

Theo Bezouwen:

and the previous manager? He put a motto into place. It was always what's the loving thing to do. Do. So whenever there's an issue or an altercation, or with a customer or volunteers, we always go back to that phrase what's the loving thing to do. And that's the cornerstone of how we sort that out.

Leon Goltsman:

I think I'm going to have to use that one. What's the loving thing to do? I think it'll come in handy quite a bit actually. Look, theo, reflecting on the positive feedback from community members and local leaders, what stories or testimonials stand out to you as evidence of the shop's impact?

Theo Bezouwen:

So, leon, the feedback from volunteers is amazing. Here Just this week there was a lady she'd been unwell and we sent her a bunch of flowers and she just said look, you know, a couple of days ago she just felt like she didn't want to be on this planet and just receiving those bunch of flowers from her Hillview family just made her day so much better. And she put a public message there on the messenger group to all the volunteers to let her know how much she misses this place. And there's just so many stories like that. So some of the people we get through here, leon, like from domestic violence, they'll show up here and we have a bit of an emergency relief form and we can help them with actually goods and supplies.

Theo Bezouwen:

We've had folk from elder abuse in here as well, so they're able to come through here and they shop. Sometimes they make a small contribution towards the cost of those goods. Sometimes we give them the goods for nothing and we'll help deliver those goods to their home and we can also help support them with some food vouchers. Just yesterday there was a lady I was communicating with where her husband's in hospital. He's terminally ill. He's probably got about eight weeks to go and she had a hospital bill. She had to pay her a specialist bill for a hundred and something dollars and she had no more money for groceries and a bit of petrol. So I was able to give her another couple hundred dollars to get her through until pension clicked in for her. So these are just some of the stories that we get, yeah, and you know.

Leon Goltsman:

Some people you know, a couple of hundred dollars may not seem like a lot, but other people it's a matter of life and death and you're certainly helping a lot of people just with everything that you do.

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah, like, and even the big funding recipients. Just recently we helped funded a start-up organisation, nourished in Toronto, and without that funding they would never have got off the ground. Now they're up and running and they're able to support the Toronto community with a food pantry service.

Leon Goltsman:

That's really inspiring and uplifting as well. The idea that giving benefits both the giver and the receiver is really powerful. How have you seen this dynamic play out amongst donors and volunteers at the op shop?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yes, it's interesting because you'd think the donations that we receive is where the impacts come from, but I don't think it is. I think the biggest impacts I see are the change to the volunteers, to their lives, their personal lives, their stories. I hear how they now have a sense of purpose, a reason to get up in the morning and come and join a team, a healthy team and a healthy culture here.

Leon Goltsman:

Yeah Well, I'm sure that when people learn about and more people learn about what you do, you'll be getting much more than 150 volunteers. I mean, you might have to start investigating on how to obtain more space. It kind of leads me to the next question Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for Hillview Op Shop, and how can the community continue to support and strengthen its mission?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah. So like the sky's the limit as far as I'm concerned for the Hillview Op Shop, and I'd really like to see positive change in this community. The fact that we now are independent and can significantly just focus on our current community means that we can get some of our projects going. The Hillview Op Shop is a social enterprise. We want to use commercial principles to raise funds to run our projects and we also want to start sub-projects off that, like a mental health space, maybe some sort of food training facility, and we want all these to sort of be able to stand alone on their own so that the shop would actually initially fund them. Once we get them up and going, they will be self-supporting.

Leon Goltsman:

We'll certainly put the contact details of how people who want to get involved. But if there is one thing you would like people to remember from today's conversation, Theo, what would that one thing be?

Theo Bezouwen:

Look, I can only suggest from what I've seen here and the change in lives to volunteers is if you're not volunteering, go out and do it. It today, don't leave it forever. Some of these people who volunteer here were just shoppers and we've asked them to come in and they were sort of a bit apprehensive, a bit scared and a bit timid. And then, after coming here for a week or two, their whole lives changed and and one lady I remember she said look, she regretted not doing it like 12 months prior. That's how much it's changed her life and how much of her time she's lost by not being part of this community.

Leon Goltsman:

And if people wanted to contact you or the staff, what's the best number to call you on?

Theo Bezouwen:

Yeah. So if you're thinking about volunteering at the Hillview Op Shop down here in Morisset, best to give me a call on on 0407 497 855. You can also email me if you want, on Theo T-H-E-O at M-D-H-S. So that's M for Michael, d for Donald, h for Harry S for Sam dot. Com. Dot. Au. It's quite simple. Give me a buzz. I'll be waiting for your call.

Leon Goltsman:

Fantastic Look. It's such a pleasure to be speaking with you and thank you so much for your valuable time and sharing this wonderful conversation with myself and the wonderful audience.

Theo Bezouwen:

You're more than welcome. Thanks for coming in, leon, it was enjoyable.

Leon Goltsman:

And that brings us to the end of another inspiring episode of Engaging Conversations. Today we heard from Theo Van Bezouwen about the incredible work being done at Hillview Op Shop, a shining example of what's possible when generosity and community come together. The key takeaway giving isn't just about material donations. It's about creating connection, purpose and real opportunities for those who need it most, whether it's a volunteer finding new meaning, a student receiving a life-changing scholarship or a family getting support during tough times. The impact of Hillview reaches far beyond its walls. It's a reminder that acts of kindness have the power to create lasting change.

Leon Goltsman:

Next week, we continue this theme of impact with Rachael Natoli, founder of the Lakahi Foundation. We'll be discussing the power of language, how the words we use don't just shape conversations but can also change lives. From recognizing harmful behaviors to offering the right kind of support, the way we speak about challenges can make all the difference. It's a conversation about awareness, responsibility and the role each of us plays in promoting a safer, more supportive society. And if today's discussion resonated with you, I encourage you to subscribe, share this episode and continue the conversation. A special thank you to our listeners, our sponsors and the team behind the scenes who make the show possible. I'm Leon Goldsman. Until next time, stay engaged, stay informed and let's keep making a difference together.

People on this episode

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Leon Goltsman

Host
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Theo Van Bezouwen

Guest