Quality of Donated Items

We are blessed to have a wonderful relationship with Givit - Quality Giving Network- an amazing website which was created by Juliette Wright, a mum and strong believer of helping those who need it.

Recently she blogged at Giving, naturally about some of the problems charities face in receiving donated goods.

This blog entry rings so true to us!

We like to think that we can find a home for just about everything.
But there are so many times when we donations, and we literally stand there and look at it wondering "what the?".

With the recent flood, people have been giving us things in droves.  Many wonderful things.

But there's also been more than a fair share of things that absolutely, unequivocally would not pass on to anyone.

We get one solitary wheelie bin for use at the shop as part of our rental agreement.  In the last few weeks this bin has been full to overflowing by Monday afternoon!

There are certain networks that we try to utilise to enable recycling as much as possible. But, there's only so much we can do.

We don't sell rags, so any clothes that are stained, mis-shapen or have holes in them we just have to throw away!!  We often get people donating "things" with bits broken or completely missing - a coffee maker, a juicer, a blender, a vacuum cleaner!! (?) and these things are of no use to us, or any of our customers. 

Last week in particular, we received a donation which was left on our footpath - and left me totally astonished. 

It included (amongst other things)

• a childs' stroller covered in mould
• a childs' beanbag chair - also covered in mould and filthy dirty
• a kettle, which was literally black on the outside from grime
• a mattress for a cot, which had been stripped back to the foam and innersprings (there was no fabric on it and therefore it was a safety risk as a baby could easily get stuck in the springs!)
• a single mattress which was wet and smelt of mould.
• used pillows, that were yellow and smelly

What did this mean for us?  My brother had to take time out of his day to come and load it all into his car, drive it to my house and dump it here - where my husband then spent part of his weekend off work taking loads to the tip!! So not only did it cost us money (to take it to the tip), it also meant that 3 people had to take time out of their day/s to help us get rid of it !!

That said, we are often completely overwhelmed by peoples' generosity and kind giving spirit!

We love nothing more, than opening up donations of lovely clean, freshly laundered items, nic-nacs etc and we love the satisfaction that comes from matching those items up with people who want or need them.

Please, don't stop donating to shops like ours.  Your donations help us to help people who need it.
But please consider what you are donating. 

A friend of mine recently had a fantastic status update on Facebook which I put on our page - but I'm going to share it here too as they are great parting words.

"Please remember, if you are going to donate items, ask yourself "Would I wear this? Would I dress my child in this? Would I use this?". If the answer is no, then it belongs in the bin. People have lost enough, don't try and take their dignity as well."

Almost a Happy New Year!

I don't know if it's just me, but this year seems to have gone way too quickly!  It seems like only yesterday we were in the preparation stage of opening, and yet this year we celebrated our 1st Birthday of the Shop and also our 2nd Christmas.  We started up the website, and I tried to keep up (not very sucessfully I might add!) with the blogging to keep everyone in the loop of what was going on!

We've  been in the local Newspapers, and featured in local magazines like the Westender http://www.westender.com.au/

This year, we once again were able to assist many disadvantaged members of our community with the help of some wonderful friends. 

The lovely people at Givit http://www.givit.org.au/ assisted us this year in our Christmas Hamper Appeal by spreading the word on their website, and assisted us with the task of requesting donations of many non perishable food and household items. 

For those not in the know, Givit is a not-for-profit Organisation run by a team of hardworking and dedicated volunteers.  Their aim is to match up people in need with items that people no longer want or need.  I strongly urge you, if you have items of furniture or other items that you are considering donating to charity, please consider putting your unwanted item on Givit's website.   This allows organisations such as housing providers, crisis accommodation facilities, community mental health agencies and groups who help disadvantaged people in our area, to request and receive goods that their clients need.  

So anyway, the wonderful staff at Givit really helped enable us to help out families who really were in need at this time of year.  

Our wonderful friends Tom and Steph at Storage King Salisbury http://www.storageking.com.au/salisbury/  offered us up some space, and storage bags to pack all our parcels. 

 

With our volunteer troops Conwae, Cathy, Helen, Lee, Rosie and of course Desley, the team packed a total of 37 hampers and gift packs that helped out a total of 61 people in total.   I'm sure you'll agree that for such a tiny shop this is a huge feat and one we should be very proud of !! And so with that, Christmas was over, and it is ALMOST 2011!   I am so proud to be able to do such a wonderful "job" where I can be involved with such wonderful giving people and see all our hard work really pay off. 

So, at this point - I would like to thank a few people. 

First off, thanks to Desley, who literally never stops working for the Shop.  Even when she's not at the Shop (which she often is much longer than the opening hours), she's doing something for the Shop, or a client, or someone else who needs something.
A huge thank you to our volunteers this year, Grace, Ellie, Conwae, Cathy, Helen, Lee, Rosie, John and I would like to particularly thank Marie, who always comes rain, hail or shine and always has a smile on her face, no matter how big the daunting pile of donations she is standing in! 

Thank you also to Peter for stepping up and being the delivery/collections person most of the time until recently, despite also working a full-time paid job.  

A huge thanks also goes to all our regular customers, and our donators.  Without you, the shop can't continue to do the work it does and help people who need assistance.

So, I think that's just about it for 2010.  We will be open this week from 10am to 4pm and back as usual in the New Year after the Public Holidays.  

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

- Alani