THE manager of North Albury’s Salvation Army store is pleading with people to stop treating the charity like a tip after rubbish and damaged goods were dumped there at the weekend.
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Manager Leola Andersen was in tears, standing among the broken bits of wood, busted bed frames, rusted heaters, tattered books and broken glass early yesterday.
The rubbish had been dumped out the back of the Mate Street store in North Albury during the weekend.
“It’s so demoralising,” Ms Andersen said.
“They’re too lazy to go to the tip.”
She said a volunteer who had given 10 years of his life to the organisation had wanted to turn the car around and go home when he saw the mess.
Ms Andersen, who has worked for the Salvos for 25 years, said the dumping came only a week after a lounge suite, so tattered “you wouldn’t leave your dog on it”, was dumped in the same place.
“I’ve had enough,” she said.
“I want people to take their rubbish to the tip.”
The dumping of rubbish is not a new thing and Ms Andersen said it increased in the lead-up to Christmas.
Ms Anderson pleaded with people to do the right thing and have a bit more consideration for the Salvation Army volunteers.
She said they would sort through the pile to salvage anything they could but most of it would need to be thrown away.
It’s not a problem unique to Albury.
Every year, the Salvation Army sends 4000 truckloads of dumped clothing and damaged goods to tips across Australia, costing more than $5 million in fees.
Ms Andersen said despite the setback, she is passionate about what she does.
She said the Albury store attracted people from hundreds of kilometres away.
“I want to have a lovely place that people can come and enjoy,” she said.
“And it’s more than that. This is what the Salvation Army does and I believe in it.
“I believe in what we do in the community to make other people’s lives better.”
