St Vincent de Paul has launched an urgent appeal for volunteers to work at its Orange warehouse after being flooded with donations.
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The charity has been so overwhelmed with offerings it has been forced to pay students to assist, but it cannot afford to keep that up.
Warehouse supervisor Melissa Stewart said the warehouse received items donated to all 17 shops in the Central West.
“There’s at least 15 tonnes plus a week that’s coming in here.”
Executive officer Ellen Sharp said the supply had increased significantly over Christmas – at the same time as help from Work for the Dole scheme participants had dried up due to the holiday break.
Mrs Sharp said it was the first time they had called for community volunteers for the warehouse.
“We would be looking for three to four volunteers each day to come in Monday to Friday from 8 till 4,” she said.
“We’ve got two volunteers a week that come in.
“At the moment we have needed to put on a few casuals over the Christmas break.”
Mrs Sharp said they were local school students but they could not afford to keep that up.
“We don’t have a budget for that.
“We could pay people which would take money out of our care and support programs which is not what we want to do.”
Mrs Sharp said the overflow from all Central West shops came to the warehouse where it was sorted and re-allocated to the shops.
“Orange is one of our best [sources] for the volume and quality of clothing we receive.”
She said items donated in Orange were often sent to smaller shops in the region to broaden the quality of stock they sold.
Mrs Sharp said the quality of items donated varied from near-new to unsaleable.
“A lot of it still has tags on it,” she said.
“It happens a lot. It’s just the way things are.”
She said some stock was sent overseas.
“Not of all of the donations are saleable back into the shops. We can identify markets we can on-sell those products to.”
She said some items were sent to African and Pacific Island countries while the lower end was sold for rags.
Mrs Sharp said all volunteers would receive training and their work would involve sorting and identifying clothing into various categories.
She said anyone with a forklift licence would be a bonus as there was some lifting involved.
The warehouse covers shops in the Catholic diocese of Bathurst.
“They range from Lithgow to Coonabarabran and Mudgee to Cowra,” Mrs Sharp said.
If you can help call the warehouse on 6362 2565.