The last shop in an Oxfordshire village was reopened by two sisters who ‘rehomed’ two of the shop's donated soft toys.

Mercy in Action charity shop in Benson, near Wallingford has finally reopened its doors to customers on Monday after closing due to the pandemic.

Five-year-old Kiki-J Carman was particularly pleased to see the shop reopen after waiting weeks to collect her fluffy bunny that she had spotted in the window of Mercy in Action while it was still closed.

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Shop manager Tracy Hammond said: “When were shut we came in and there was an envelope through the door and Kiki had written a little note saying when we open please can I have the bunny.”

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When Ms Hammond saw the note, she text messaged Kiki’s mum, Jemma Carman back pretending to be the toy bunny saying it would love to come and live with Kiki.

Ms Hammond said: “We put the bunny in the window saying, ‘looking forward to seeing you soon Kiki’ and we put a picture on Facebook.

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“It sat in the window then for a couple of weeks and then we decided o make Kiki our first customer of the day and we had a new home helium balloon ready for her.”

Kiki’s story grabbed loads of attention on the Facebook page ‘Family Lockdown Tips & Ideas’ with 12.8k people reacting to the story and routing for Kiki and the bunny.

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Kiki and her family were the first customers on the day of the popular charity shop’s reopening.

She was given the fluffy bunny to take home and her nine-year-old sister Frenchie Carman, came along and was also able to ‘rehome’ another furry toy at the same time and took home a bright yellow duck.

Ms Hammond said: “She said it made her day, she was really chuffed and really excited.”

After Kiki opened the shop customers came flooding into the popular Benson charity shop.

The 25th customer of the day was treated to a voucher for the Mercy in Action café, ‘Number 25’ which also opened on Monday.

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Ms Hammond said: “We are getting really good feedback about the shop and we have the café here now and we are all open.

“I think we were really missed in the village, which is great.

“It is a popular shop and we sell lovely items, but also the volunteers that come in enjoy getting out the house and coming here and socialising.

“So, it has been missed on many levels and I didn’t appreciate that side to it and now I understand.”

Mercy in Action charity works to help children living in poverty in the Philippines through feeding, education, shelter, and love.

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The charity aims to see an end to the abandonment, abuse, and trafficking of children.

The charity shop has also opened a food bank in Oxford called Action Pantry for families on a low income who struggle keeping up with the everyday costs of family life.

The food bank is partnered with food surplus organisation FareShare South West, who help provide fresh and store cupboard food all within the ‘best before date’ to families in need.

Mercy in Action were helped by St John’s Foundation for funding the essential core costs of Action Pantry.