The vice-president of St. Vincent de Paul Society Thrift Store in Val Caron said not only are people continuing to drop off donations after they’ve been asked to stop for now, they’re also using the location as a garbage dump.
Betty MacIsaac said she has had to fill up the store’s delivery van several times already and bring unwanted donations and actual garbage to the dump. It is costing the non-profit organization hundreds of dollars in garbage runs, money that could go to much better causes.
“We’ve made two trips to the dump already,” a frustrated MacIsaac told Sudbury.com last week.
There’s enough unwanted donations and actual garbage to fill the organization’s delivery truck, she said.
Making matters worse is the fact people seem to think it’s OK to go through all of the things dropped off at the Val Caron location.
“Clothes were all over the ground, there are coolers that are just filthy, and bags of garbage people are dropping off,” MacIsaac said. “It’s just pathetic these people are using us as a dumping ground.”
It’s not like there isn’t any warning St. Vincent de Paul isn’t accepting donations. There’s a large sign outside near the highway telling anyone who drives by they aren’t accepting donations, and there are hand-written notes posted at the donations site advising people the same thing.
In one instance, MacIsaac said she caught a man dropping off a large pool and bags of garbage. She talked to him, and he agreed to take it all back, so she went inside. Turns out, he took the pool, but left all the bags of garbage.
“He knew we weren’t taking anything, but he didn’t care,” she said.
St. Vincent de Paul has also suspended the service it uses to empty its dumpsters.
“It’s fairly expensive to have our dumpsters emptied, and they are emptied weekly, sometimes twice a week,” she said.
While St. Vincent de Paul isn’t using the dumpsters, others are, she said. Not even a lock kept out people looking for a place to dump their garbage.
“We had a lock on the dumpster, but someone cut it off,” she said.
MacIsaac said it’s also unfortunate that there are some really good items being dropped off, but there’s no room right now.
“Nor do we want to bring it in because of (the potential dangers of) COVID-19,” she said.
“A lot of people are calling with good items to donate, which we appreciate, because if they drop it off, it’s just going to sit out there and get ruined.”
MacIsaac said she’s hopeful things will start to get back to normal some time in May.
“We give things to other organizations, like furniture, to hand out to people in need, and there are people in need right now, but we can’t give them anything,” MacIsaac said.
If you need help with food, phone 705-897-1461.
The other organizations in Greater Sudbury that normally accept donations of clothing and other items like furniture are in the same situation.
Diabetes Canada has temporarily suspended the collection of all textile donations from homes and bins to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“Please do not drop off items at the donation bins,” said Diabetes Canada in a post. “They cannot be collected at this time.”
Diabetes Canada is asking its donors to hold onto their donations until the organization is able to accept them once again.
The Salvation Army thrift store on Notre Dame Avenue is also closed until further notice, but its food bank remains open for those in need.
Calls to both the Diabetes Canada donation centre in Sudbury and the Salvation Army thrift store to see if people are still dropping off donations have not been returned.
