Charity trashed
VOLUNTEERS of the Salvation Army were disappointed to find rubbish left outside their Leongatha thrift shop over the weekend.
Volunteers at the Bair Street shop now have to sift through the rubbish and spend up to $400 at the tip.
“We do have free access to the tip through South Gippsland Shire Council,” Salvation Army captain Martin Scrimshaw said.
“We don’t abuse that though and if we are taking other people’s rubbish to the tip it can cost anywhere between $300 and $400. That’s money we could be putting towards our service.”
The Salvation Army is grateful to the many people who donate quality secondhand items.
However, the charity is finding people are more leaving their rubbish behind more frequently.
“We had bags of household rubbish put into our clothing bins at IGA,” Mr Scrimshaw said.
“Liquid in the bags went through and ruined some of the other donations, and they all had to be thrown away.”
Every opportunity shop has been affected by the rubbish trend and volunteers plead with the community to be careful with donations.
Large donations need to be delivered to the thrift shop during opening hours. The shop is open from 10am until 4pm from Monday to Friday and 10am to 12pm on Saturday.
Clothing bins should only be used for bags of clothing. The bins are located in the Leongatha IGA car park, in Korumburra, behind the Leongatha thrift shop and in Foster.
“We realise the donations are secondhand but the general rule is if you wouldn’t give it to someone, we can’t sell it or give it away,” Mr Scrimshaw said.
“When people drop off broken cupboards, dirty mattresses and rusted bikes, it becomes up to our volunteers to clean it up.”
The Salvation Army is there to help families in need and to do so, donations need to be of a certain standard.
“Having said that, we thank everyone for their generosity,” Mr Scrimshaw said.
“It really makes a difference.”
Dumped: Salvation Army volunteer Wendy O’Neill went to work at the thrift shop in Leongatha on yesterday (Monday) to find someone had left rubbish by the back door.
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