20 years in business and $1000 for wildlife

An Inverloch business has quietly raised more than $1000 to support local wildlife, selling secondhand books to help feed orphaned wombats in care.

Style Mantra owner Wendy de Kunder started selling donated novels from her A’Beckett Street shop late last year, with every book selling for $5 and all proceeds going directly to Bunurong Wildlife Care.

The fundraiser has now raised more than $1000, but after a wave of support from the community, Wendy recently had to put a call out on social media for more donated books so the effort can continue.

Since posting the request for more books on Facebook, Wendy has already had 20 donated.

“It’s really good,” Wendy said about the $1000 milestone. “It’s definitely been worthwhile.”

The money directly helps Bunurong Wildlife Care, which is run by Linda and Rod Pettit, care for injured and orphaned wildlife from Inverloch and surrounding areas, which often includes baby wombats that come into care after their mothers are killed on local roads.

Wendy said one of the best things about the fundraiser is that it gives people a simple way to help.

“A lot of people didn’t know about it until I put that post on Facebook, and now a lot more people know we’re doing it,” she said.

“They’re buying more and donating more. Everyone’s seeing a lot of wildlife on the side of the road at the moment, and now they can do something to help all the orphaned wombats that they’ve got at the moment.”

Wendy said the store is mainly looking for good-condition novels, rather than a wider range of books, due to space limitations.

“Ones that are in really nice condition, that are easy to sell for $5,” she said.

“All of it goes to the wombats.”

The fundraiser also comes as Wendy celebrates a major milestone of her own, celebrating 20 years of business in Inverloch on Wednesday, July 1.

Wendy opened her first store in Inverloch at just 19 years of age. Since then, Wendy has established herself as a pillar of Inverloch’s retail landscape through businesses including Style Mantra, Southern Harmony and Southern Bazaar.

Two decades on, Wendy continues to use her presence in town to support the community however she can.

With no plans to stop the fundraiser anytime soon, Wendy wants to help Bunurong Wildlife Care do even more.

“The more we raise, the more they can do,” she said.