When all the people who brought things downtown Saturday for the Main Street rummage sales left, they left behind many of the items they didn’t sell.

Monday, June 04, 2001

When all the people who brought things downtown Saturday for the Main Street rummage sales left, they left behind many of the items they didn’t sell.

The Salvation Army Austin Corps’ Family Thrift Store was inundated with items Saturday afternoon.

The Austin Downtown Merchants Association sponsored a public rummage sale over three blocks of Main Street North that was a huge success Saturday and attracted many exhibitors and buyers.

Not all of the items sold, of course, and some of the exhibitors apparently decided to donate the items to the Salvation Army.

The items filled up the drop box and rear entrance lobby and overflowed into the parking lot.

When employees reported to work today, the rear entrance, accessing the main parking lot to the Family Thrift Store, was blocked.

Now, Salvation Army workers and volunteers are scrambling to sort through the items to see what is sellable. The rest will have to be loaded into a truck and hauled to a landfill.

It is an example of the "good-bad" situation that plagues the charity organization.

"We had so many items left over from the downtown rummage sales Saturday," said Lori Espe, volunteer coordinator for the Salvation Army. "We appreciate people’s generosity, but this was just too much and not all of it can be resold anyway."

The situation happens each spring, when house cleaning gets under way. People bring unwanted and frequently useless items to the Salvation Army and leave it.

Because they do it after hours or on Sundays, when the store isn’t staffed, the Salvation Army believes the individuals simply want to avoid paying to have it taken away from their own homes and leave it for the Salvation Army to process.

"We really appreciate the generosity of people, who donate good, useful items that families need," Espe said. "But when they do this, it only creates problems for us and when we have to haul it away to the landfill; that means an extra expense."

Espe said individuals should call ahead of time and explain to the Family Thrift Store manager what they have and if the Salvation Army can use it.

Video surveillance cameras have caught people leaving sofas, broken chairs and other items that are obviously of no future use to anyone.

The Salvation Army merely cleans items and then immediately resells them. It does not repair any items.

When furniture and other items are left overnight, they frequently sit out in the rain and that also renders them useless.

According to Espe, all it takes is a little foresight.

"If they would just call first, that would help a lot," she said.

The Family Thrift Store telephone number is 433-6211, which also is the number to call for home pickup of furniture and appliances.

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com.