Roundabout Canberra founder and CEO Hannah Andrevski and St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/Goulburn Lucy Hohnen at Goodies Junction, Mitchell. Photo: James Coleman.
Fancy a kilo of loose LEGO for $30? We’ve got very good news for you.
In a new partnership, the St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/Goulburn has agreed to donate every bit of LEGO that comes through either of its Goodies Junction venues to Roundabout Canberra for the annual ‘Giant Charity LEGO Sale’.
You’ll remember this event as the one held annually in the Albert Hall, where members of the public can rifle through plastic tubs full to bursting with literally tonnes of LEGO.
And no, there is no fake LEGO included – volunteers make sure of that by spending hours sorting through it all beforehand.
Scenes from the Giant Charity LEGO Sale in 2022. Photo: Roundabout Canberra.
Roundabout Canberra provides safe and high-quality essential baby and children’s items to families in need throughout the ACT, and founder and CEO Hannah Andrevski says the annual sale is a major source of fundraising for the not-for-profit organisation each year.
The last one, held on 21 September, raked in nearly $50,000 alone. And now, with Vinnies’ help, they want to do even better for 2025.
“It’s been the most wonderful event for us over the last few years, so to be able to continue it is a huge relief and we’re very excited,” Hannah says.
“People love LEGO, and it’s great – it means we can put that towards supporting local kids.”
The Giant Charity LEGO Sale was started in 2018 by the owners of The Green Shed, Charlie Bigg-Wither and Sandie Parkes, initially as a way of putting the tonnes of donated LEGO that come through the Mugga Lane and Mitchel resource management centres every year to good use.
The money went to the Canberra Hospital Foundation for the first year after the couple’s daughter spent considerable time in the hospital following a serious accident.
The following year’s sale raised money for OzHarvest Canberra, and in 2022, after a break due to COVID, Roundabout Canberra was selected as the charity partner going forward.
Roundabout Canberra volunteers preparing for a full day at Albert Hall. Photos: Roundabout Canberra.
Vinnies, which took over the former Green Shed sites under the new name of Goodies Junction on 31 May, already has a well-established history of working with Roundabout Canberra, frequently requesting items for families they’re working with.
“We’ve always had a really nice working relationship with them, and this is just another way of furthering that,” Hannah says.
There’s more.
In the lead-up, volunteers spend “countless” hours sorting through all the LEGO donations, removing things like LEGO and stray NERF bullets, and Hannah says this has served as a “really good way to connect with local schools”.
“We’ve had a lot of students from local primary schools and high schools who sort and pre-bag the LEGO for us, so it’s really nice to involve kids in something that delivers such a good outcome to the community,” she says.
Members from the Canberra LEGO User Group (CLUG) also volunteer their “serious LEGO expertise” in the process.
“We had one volunteer put in 200 hours last year to prepare for the LEGO sale, but hundreds of hours go into preparing for it and getting ready.”
Pricing will remain the same: $30 for a kilogram of loose LEGO and complete box sets according to market price. The only change may be the date.
“We’ve played around with holding it between September and December, but for next year, we might look to bring it earlier in the year,” Hannah says.
Hannah Andrevski says they’re yet to confirm the sale’s date for next year. Photo: James Coleman.
Since opening Goodies Junction on 31 May, Vinnies says it has “received a staggering number of donations” from the two sites, seven tonnes of which has been used to help the charity furnish more than 70 transitional and permanent homes for individuals and families in need.
CEO Lucy Hohnen says they hope the Giant Charity LEGO Sale can put LEGO to use in a similarly good way.
“This is the natural thing to do,” she says.
“We know that Roundabout Canberra is synonymous with the LEGO sale, and it’s very successful in the community, so we’re really happy to support that. We’ve already started stockpiling for their next event.”
Have any extra LEGO you’d like to donate? Drop it at Goodies Junction at either Mugga Lane or Mitchell between 7:30 am and 4:45 pm, any day of the week.
Original Article published by James Coleman on Riotact.
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