ST Vincent de Paul executive officer Ellen Sharp has asked police to track down the man responsible for dumping a large amount of damaged furniture outside the charity’s McNamara Street store on the weekend.
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Mrs Sharp said images of the man had been captured on CCTV footage and police had been given the partial details of his number plate.
Yesterday St Vincent de Paul volunteers, with the help of Orange City Council staff, spent hours clearing up the mess the man left on three separate occasions on Saturday and Sunday.
All of the items, except for one wall cabinet, were in such poor condition they were unable to be salvaged and had to disposed of at Orange’s Resource Recovery Centre.
Mrs Sharp said the bulky items included beds, fridges and lounges that were “not saleable”.
“It looked like a whole household’s worth of furniture which wasn’t saleable or moveable,” she said.
“We had to contact council for help getting it to the recovery centre.
“It shows a lack of care about the impact this would have on the people who have to move it.”
Mrs Sharp said either the man who dumped the goods was confused about the sort of donations the charity accepted, or he found leaving the items outside the store more convenient than going to the recovery centre.
Mrs Sharp said a sign explaining what goods the charity accepted had been placed in a prominent place on the outside of the store, and it was important to remind people the charity only wanted good quality items.
“Just because people are in need doesn’t mean they should get rubbish,” she said.
“Leaving the items for the volunteers to find shows a level of disrespect for the work the volunteers do.
“It’s distressing for them to come in Sunday morning and be confronted by this sort of thing.”
Mrs Sharp said the young man who was captured on the CCTV footage wasn’t the only person who took advantage of the charity on the weekend.
CCTV footage captured people pulling apart bags of donated items and taking them, with one man hiding behind the donated furniture to avoid detection.
Mrs Sharp said once people saw rubbish left outside the store it encouraged others to do the same.
“People think they can do it because it’s already a mess,” she said.
Orange police are still investigating the matter and are yet to track down the man responsible.
tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au