Creston Valley Gleaner Society has a growing problem they just can’t get a handle on. The constant “donations” of residents unwanted items, is out of control.
Operations manager George Goulder and executive board members Marion Nygren and Jean Syroteuk of the Creston Valley Gleaners Society sat down with the Advance to talk about the negative impact increasing dump fees is having on the non-profit organization.
“We want to educate the public on the number of damaged donations we are receiving and the effect it is having on the Gleaners. We appreciate all the donations we get from the community. Donations have gone from 70% lightly used clothing and household items to 70% recycling and garbage. We are finding that 90% of the community are donating what we need, but the other 10% are not. We are not a recycling hub for the community, however we are one of the largest recyclers of our own lightly used items or donations. Our dump and recycle fees will surpass $16,000 this year and if not fixed $25,000 by 2020. As a non profit society we can’t afford these fees.”
“Ninety-five percent of donations are exactly what we want. Lightly used clothing and household items”, George states. He goes on, “The remaining 5% of donations being given are broken, ripped or stained, and we can’t resell those items. Those items go to the dump and Gleaners gets stuck with the cost.”
“Increasing dump fees will have a direct impact on the amount of money Gleaners can put back to the Creston Valley Community,” Jean Syroteuk adds.
“We want to ask the community to be mindful of the items they are donating to help reduce dump fees,” pleads Marion Nygren.
The Gleaners willingly accepts lightly used clothing and household items. Due to the lack of clean items and deteriorating conditions of clothing and household goods being donated, volunteers now wear gloves. Several volunteers also don surgical masks during the sorting process to prevent any illness.
“We are being given clothing that is dirty, ripped and stained. If you hold up a piece of clothing and you hesitate about donating it then it’s probably something that should be thrown away”, George cautions. “We have washers and dryers on site and we do run those machines around the clock. However, we can’t wash everything,” says George.
Gleaners Too accepts lightly used household items. Lately, however, many donations have been broken, ripped, are covered in mold or mildew or are just plain unusable. The lot has become the place for exercise equipment to come to die.
“It seems many items donated to Gleaners Too should be going directly into recycling or the garbage. If you are going to donate a piece of furniture and it is covered in pet hair or your pet has been using it as a scratching post chances are we don’t want it,” laments George.
Gleaners successful nonprofit business model is to move items quickly in and out of their stores.
“Gleaners is not a recycling hub or a storage facility. If a damaged item is donated and it sits on the sales floor for two weeks and doesn’t get sold, it is taking up space for an item we can sell,” says George. “We don’t fix or mend, damaged donations. Those donations go directly into a Gleaner dumpster. We lose money to dump fees when someone drops off a damaged donation.”
Gleaners has the right to refuse a donation at any time. However, over the past few years, there has been a few recorded incidences where volunteers have been belittled for their decision to refuse a donation. This makes it harder for volunteers to do their jobs properly and get quality items out for sale.
“If things don’t change soon” George warns, “we are looking at different avenues such as closing our gates for donations on the weekend and installing a security system. If we do decide to implement closing our gates on the weekend, it won’t be until the new year. However, this is not something we want to do.” George pleads, “What we want to do is work on educating the public on what is suitable to donate to help reduce our dumping fees.” says George.
“Almost a million dollars has been given back to the Creston Valley community since 2002 through The Gleaners Society. We are thankful for what the community does donate. We are asking the community to be more mindful of what is being donated and assist in reducing our skyrocketing dump fees. We want to continue to give back to the Creston Valley community as much as we can,” pleads Jean Syroteuk head of Disbursements
The executive committee for Gleaners wants to thank the generosity of the community and the amazing volunteers who put in countless hours to make Gleaners what is today. A community success.