Inundated with donations lately, staff at the St Vincent de Paul Springwood store were not accepting donations for a few days last week.
Vinnies retail operations manager for western Sydney, Phillip Basti, said “this time of year and Christmas, New Year is peak season for donations.
“People clean out their houses and we’re inundated with donations. We have to put on hold receiving donations as we don’t want volunteers tripping over things.”
The bins have been overflowing with goods spilling onto the footpath along Macquarie Road.
Mr Basti said the removal of two donation bins at St Finbar’s Primary School/Parish in Glenbrook just before Christmas due to a complaint from a neighbour about the amount of noise people made when placing their donations in the bin, had put increased pressure on the bins at Springwood and Blaxland.
A mix of useful donations as well as rubbish has steadily been accumulating at the store.
“With genuine donations we are very grateful for people’s generosity,” Mr Basti said.
“We find the challenge is that some donations appear to be donations but can be rubbish. That stuff we have to clear at our cost and that’s upsetting.”
Broken toys, and stained and soiled goods were thrown out, as were goods which might not meet safety standards such as bike helmets and prams.
But every now and then staff will come across a collectable, like a bible from the 1800s recently donated at the Springwood store.
“We’ll be getting that valued,” Mr Basti said.
The Springwood store boasts the best offering of historic books in Vinnies western Sydney stores, he claims.
Other interesting donations in Springwood include ANZAC memorabilia and religious paraphernalia.
“Springwood and Katoomba are renowned for the type of merchandise that comes in,” Mr Basti said.
One of the most valuable donations they ever received was a Wonder Woman doll still in packaging received three years ago at the Kingswood store.
One of just three dolls believed to have been produced under licence in Australia in the 1960s, sold on Vinnies eBay website it attracted a premium $6500 from a buyer in the US.
And while the donations keep rolling in, more volunteers are always needed.
“We couldn’t survive without our volunteers. Another 10 volunteers in Springwood would help the process,” Mr Basti said.
Inquire at the Springwood shop to express an interest or visit the Vinnies website www.vinnies.org.au for more information.