Remembering Joe
September 30 2007: Joe Mitty, Oxfam's first paid employee, and credited with founding the modern day charity shop, has died at the age of 88. His passing is a great loss to Oxfam and to the world. In 2006, Joe Mitty received a lifetime achievement award from then-Prime Minister Tony Blair at the ITV Daily Mirror Pride of Britain ceremony.
An extraordinary legacy
Joe leaves behind an extraordinary legacy, having made an immense contribution to making the Oxfam shop network what it is today: 730 outlets across the UK, generating an annual profit of around £20 million, staffed by more than 20,000 volunteers, and frequented by an estimated 17 million customers a year. In August 2007, Oxfam launched the world's first online charity shop.
Video courtesy of ITV
