General News
20 December, 2024
Reminder for donations
The Salvation Army Maryborough is asking residents to refrain from leaving secondhand items at the local Salvos church after hours, with dumped donations causing a major headache for volunteers.
The sight of chairs, clothes, printers, kitchen appliances and even empty water cooler bottles out the front of 27 Wills Street has become commonplace for Salvation Army Maryborough Captian Ron Stobie.
According to Mr Stobie, the prevalence of discarded items has become a serious issue in the lead up to Christmas.
“It has been happening off and on constantly but we have noticed over the last couple of months it has significantly increased where it happens multiple times a week,” he said.
“Most of the time it’s out of hours that people dump them and it can be anything from furniture to bags of clothes.
“I don’t know why it’s picked up recently, maybe it’s because people want to get rid of stuff before Christmas.”
The local Salvos are asking residents to take their used items to other local thrift stores as the structure fire which destroyed their store last December has left the Salvos unable to take secondhand goods ever since.
Mr Stobie said the dumped donations take money and time away from community causes during their busiest time of year.
“With our thrift shop burning down 12 months ago, that was one of our biggest income generators for us to spend on our community so it means we have less money going around,” he said.
“We currently can’t accept any secondhand donations at this time because we don’t have anywhere to store them.
“While we can drop off stuff to other op shops, some of the stuff isn’t even able to be used so we have to spend time, effort and money to dispose of it.”
Mr Stobie said the Salvos are continuously looking for opportunities to bring back their local op shop so that usable donations can once again be accepted.
“We plan to open up another shop, we are just trying to find a suitable location which is the hardest part at the moment,” he said.
“While yes it has been 12 months, nothing has been available that is suitable for what our needs are.
“Not only just Christmas but throughout the year if there are food donations or cash donations, we put that straight towards helping our community support services.”
Food and cash donations are preferred to be made on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday during opening hours of the Salvos church from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm.
For more information or to assist in local efforts, contact The Salvation Army Maryborough at 5461-2789.