Chloe Pailthorpe is the visionary behind Phil’s Emporium and its far-reaching community work. Photos: Tenele Conway.
The saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but at the Bungendore op shop Phil’s Emporium, there is such a thing as a free morning tea; it happens every Friday and has a catchy little moniker, Phil Good Fridays.
The free morning tea is headed up by Chloe and Mike Pailthorpe, who came to Bungendore in 2014 when Mike became the town’s Anglican minister. Supported by the army of Phil’s Emporium volunteers, the gathering is their way of investing in people and encouraging the community to connect.
“We have barista coffee, and our volunteers do all the baking. Keeping it free encourages people to come down and connect,” Chloe tells Region.
“We have a host for each morning tea to greet people, arrange the coffee and cake and help them settle in.”
The name of the shop and the more recent spin-off name of the morning tea stem from the name of the church, St Philip’s, but it is so embedded in the community now that locals assume that Mike, the minister and regular barista in the shop, must be Phil, and he’s getting used to answering to his adopted name.
Reverend Mike Pailthorpe is getting used to being called Phil.
With community being at the fore of everything Mike and Chloe do, Chloe credits the Phil puns to regular customer Laura Dowling, who runs the Bungendore Crafters’ Co-Op.
“We had a Filla bag for $5 where at the end of the month, to keep stock turning over, people could fill up a bag for a set price, and Laura came to me saying, ‘Chloe, Chloe, you need to call it a Phil-a bag’. It all started from there.”
Chloe laughs that all these Phil puns aren’t helping poor Mike hang onto his real name, but jokes that he kind of looks like a Phil, so it’s OK.
The op shop itself, which has been open for eight years and is in partnership with Anglicare, runs from the Anglican hall, a formerly underutilised space that primarily sat empty. Chloe says that despite initial concerns that they would have to beg for donations, they have been inundated with beautiful-quality donations and have never looked back.
They have since opened a second emporium, in Captains Flat, which operates two days a week and is a way for them to distribute the ample donations that come through the Bungendore branch.
With the shop well supported, despite their low prices, Chloe and Mike are able to generate the funds to run a range of activities around Australia and even overseas.
“We use the proceeds to run the food hub, which costs $30,000 a year to run,” Chloe says. ”We support community groups, we donate to the preschool and we help seniors groups.
“With the hall being a part of the church property, not paying rent means we can help more people.”
Phil’s Emporium channels its proceeds into the Bungendore food hub and around the world.
Far from being just the minister’s wife, Chloe herself is ordained and Mike recognises her as the visionary behind their work. The network of more than 60 volunteers she has built gives Chloe connections that broaden her charitable reach. This includes sending bras to Fiji and puzzles to a remote community in the Cook Islands.
She also thrives on the personal stories, such as the time she was able to supply a donated Tommy Hilfiger suit to a man helping rehabilitate young men and get them into the workforce.
Talking with Chloe, it is obvious that she takes great pride in her volunteers, and as they trickle through the door, she shares each of their stories and how they found Phil’s Emporium.
Most of the volunteers are retired and are using their new-found time to give back to the community. Chloe takes great care in finding work that they enjoy.
As we sit and chat, a volunteer named Vicki wanders in and starts organising succulents and cacti that she’s potted into vessels that she’s rescued from the donations so they can sell them on with a new lease of life.
“This is my passion; I have a garden full of succulents,” Vicki says as she carefully displays her pots.
Volunteer Vicki is able to indulge in her passion for succulents.
Andy then joins the mix on his way to the shed to start sorting and organising the donations that have amassed over the Easter long weekend. Chloe credits Andy with an organisational talent that helps contain her propensity for chaos.
The atmosphere among the volunteers is inviting and warm and clearly stems from Chloe’s happy ease and desire to make a difference. Her philosophy with all things is that it has to be sustainable, fun, creative and inexpensive, a mantra of which the Bungendore community is reaping the benefits.
Phil’s Emporium is at 27 Butmaroo Street, Bungendore, and is open from 10 am until 4 pm Wednesday to Friday, and from 9 am until 1 pm on Saturday. You can keep up with the op shop on Facebook.
