The Salvation Army provides a valuable service for the community by employing around 25 individuals, providing low-cost items to help people get on their feet, and by doing what they can to help others.
To provide its services, the organization relies on the community’s sense of goodwill.
Still, a drive down High Street recently revealed some in the community are violating that sense of goodwill.
The Salvation Army’s Sorting Centre is open between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday thru Saturday. During this time, any donations can be brought into the building where staff can effectively sort those items for the benefit of anyone in need.
Outside of those hours, the organization cannot afford to run the facility around the clock and the drop-off site is at the mercy of the public.
“For the most part, donations come in during (regular business hours). However, there are donations that come in after hours and there’s nobody there to receive them. Sometimes those donations get left by the side of the building… and at times, those donations get sorted through by others late in the night,” said Major Clarence Ingram, the corps officer at Moose Jaw’s Salvation Army.
“Sometimes they’re not as thoughtful about putting things back together, so what would happen is you end up with clothes and things strewn around that might have happened at 11 at night…,” he said.
Most donors are well-intentioned individuals, and the Salvation Army appreciates their charity. Ingram said the majority of donations are neatly packed in boxes, clothing is folded in a tied garbage bag, and the donation pile is neatly stacked.
The problem is not necessarily the after-hour donations – it’s the individuals who come by looking for something of value and do so in a reckless and selfish manner.
“It’s just a challenge to manage that. We don’t have the… personnel to be able to put people there 24-7 to look after the donations. The best that we can do is, as soon as we open, we would clear it.
“If we do see a large number of donations and we’re driving by on a Sunday, we would try to at least get it into the building… but it will be a challenge and more so on long weekends, because there’s an extra day (that we are closed),” Ingram said.
This problem has been ongoing for years, and Ingram pointed out that every organization that accepts donations – not just the Salvation Army, and not just in Moose Jaw – experiences the same problem. Ingram said the issue exists even in smaller communities such as Assiniboia, and when he was living in Jamaica, residents would have to lock their garbage cans until collection day to avoid the same problem. It’s a universal part of the human condition, it seems.
This behaviour generates waste and voids one of the organization’s goals, which is to keep material out of the landfill.
“What would have otherwise been useful sometimes ends up being destroyed, just because it has been exposed to the elements. That’s unfortunate, but at times it’s a reality that happens,” Ingram said.
Although exact statistics are not kept, Ingram suspects that nearly half of all goods donated after hours will end up in the landfill.
“Sometimes, of course, the more choice items have probably been removed and used, and someone is making use of them somewhere,” he pointed out.
The opportunity cost of having to clean up the mess each morning and paying to haul waste from the site is an unnecessary limitation on what the Salvation Army can do for Moose Jaw.
The Sorting Centre’s five or so staff members must spend an hour or more each morning addressing the mess at the drop-off spot, and sometimes as much as three hours. “They are cleaning up (the outside mess), but also sorting all of the new donations that come in,” Ingram explained.
Ironically, the Salvation Army is willing to help anyone in need, and those who rifle through the donation pile would benefit far more by simply talking to the organization’s staff. Ingram said he’d go so far as to give an individual a well-fitting pair of winter boots if they came in and had nothing.
“We’re not trying to make a buck here; we’re trying to be good citizens, as it were,” Ingram said.
“If somebody is in need, we’re here to help them – that’s really our mission. Whether we help directly here at the Thrift Store, or if they find something they can use (at the Sorting Centre), we’re not concerned that they should not have it… as much as that we could keep the place tidy,” Ingram said.
“Just be respectful and try to keep the place tidy. Just remember that it’s everybody’s city… and we need to try to work together to keep it as good as we can.”
The best way to donate is by visiting the Sorting Centre at 670 High Street West during its regular business hours, which are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every day except Sundays.
The next best approach is to wait and donate as close to the opening time as possible.
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