Well, as you all probably know, I live in Victoria, where the bushfires have left a trail of devastation and there has been an amazing outpouring of community support from Everyday People , who’ve been donating their time, money, and second hand goods to help people affected by the fires.
I’m also a vollie at the RSPCA, where we got so many pooch/kittie/barnyard-animal-related donations that we filled over seven shipping containers with the booty and had to put signs up all over the place thanking people for their support but letting them know that we were now inundated (!) and to try to donate the goods to another charity. There are still calls going out to find additional volunteers to sort through everything. The generosity has been unbelievable. The problem for the organisation, now, is that there are a lot of logistical difficulties involved in sorting everything and getting it out to those who need it, pronto.
And apparently, the same thing has been happening to op shops near bushfire affected areas. This article spells out the problem – well intentioned folks are doing their best to help, but the charity has to use a lot of manpower sorting through donations (many of which are sadly not in usable condition), and then has to use its own resources to dispose of those goods which are unsuitable (they can’t do much with electrical goods etc) or in terrible condition (note - if it stinks to the heavens or has irreparable damage, it probably belongs in the bin).
So the op shops, and the charities that run them, are now biting the bullet and asking people to make cash donations instead wherever possible – especially because this will be able to fund longer-term relief efforts, where goods n’ chattles are more of an immediate thing. Just thought I should let y’all know, in case anyone was about to donate a huge bag of soiled wigs or whatever. Not that you guys would do that, or anything.
This is just the word on the street, tho - if you know of any bushfire-affected communities that are still seeking donations of clothes/household items, feel free to leave a comment below and get the word out to a bunch of peeps (I include myself here) who seem to have waaaay too much stuff, no matter how much they donate…
P.S. While I’m on the subject of community service, I’ve been contacted by Sara at the Fresh Air Fund, an American organisation that runs camps for underprivileged kids, who’s asked me to let youse guys know that they’re now accepting applications for counsellors. They accept international counsellors, so if you’re planning on heading to the US of A anytime soon and feel like doing a good deed, check out the fresh air fund website.
