WEYBURN – The Salvation Army store location on Fourth Street is experiencing an ongoing problem with vandalism each weekend, along with after-hour drop-offs of large furniture items they do not accept, with the result of a huge mess to clean up on Mondays.
The issues around people going through the donations left after-hours and making huge messes has been going on for a few weeks now, said Nicole Strickland, community ministries coordinator for the Salvation Army.
She noted that the Salvation Army is grateful for any and all donations, but they no longer take large pieces of furniture, like couches and love seats, at their store. The problem is most of these are dropped off on weekends or after hours when no one is there to inform the donors that they are not accepting these items.
Strickland noted that someone recently left a broken recliner in the back area.
“This actually costs us money, because we have to hire someone to come and haul these things out to the landfill, and to clean up the mess,” she said.
During their open hours, from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, there are staff who will come out to your vehicle and take the donations in, or else they can open the overhead doors at the back for small furniture items like coffee tables and dressers. They can also inform donors what they can or can’t take.
After hours, there is a red clothing bin at the back, but it gets filled up really fast on the weekends, and then they have people who come and go through it, making a big mess on their lot. The garbage spreads to the lot of the business next door and even down the alley, said Strickland. “By Monday, it’s quite bad.”
They have told the Weyburn Police Service of this ongoing problem, and she said they are going to increase their patrols through this area as much as they are able to in order to curtail the vandalism and general destruction of the items left behind.
“We really need people to know we don’t take the large furniture, and donations should be left during our open hours,” said Strickland.
She added that if anyone sees people going through stuff in the back of their store, to call the police and let them know so they can respond.
