By Aaron Cordy
CLEANING out the closet and taking a couple of bags full of old or outgrown clothing to the nearest Op Shop is a great way to update your wardrobe and make use of preloved clothing. The generosity is greatly appreciated, and with most Op Shops being used to raise funds for other causes it is a win-win situation.
When the generosity of clothing donations doesn’t hit the mark is after-hours donating, or more correctly dumping of used goods which happened around 10pm Sunday, January 26, at GV Hospice Op Shop, when a male and female threw four large bags over the fence.
The donation dumping was made worse at 3am Monday when another individual jumped the locked fence and ransacked the four bags. He spent nearly two hours kicking and scattering clothing around before taking what appeared to be a few items and leaving a mess for the GV Hospice volunteers and a good Samaritan to clear up.
“The frustration is that we have signs posted because we want to use the donations. If they donate goods after hours and dump them there later, this will happen. People will go through it. People will damage it, and then we have to pay for it to go to landfill, which is not the idea at all, of an op shop,” said GV Hospice CEO, Wendy Ross.
“A neighbouring business cleared the path, and then two volunteers came in the 40-degree heat on Monday to clear it all and put it all into a bin. It took them well over an hour. It’s not fair to volunteers, not fair to the neighbouring businesses, and it’s not fair to the organization.”
The concept of charity dumping and ransacking is unfortunately not a new one or unique to GV Hospice, which is in part why there are no longer the large donation bins at supermarket parking lots, but people need to understand that if items are left after-hours and then scattered by someone else, the donation will end up in landfill.
The cost of the clean-up from Sunday night’s mess takes away from the vital work done by GV Hospice, who specialise in palliative care services to support people with life-limiting illness and their families.
GV Hospice Op Shop Bins in Corio Street are opening 9am –3pm, with Corio Street gate (access at the rear of the Milk Bar) for dropping off large or fragile items between 9am – 1pm. Small shopping bags only can be dropped off in store from 10am – 4pm.
