Every year, we’re confronted with stories about people dumping their unwanted refuse onto the doorstep of some overstretched local charity.
This week, the LoSeCa Foundation is the one that’s been unceremoniously dumped on after hours. The foundation provides programs for adults with special needs and operates a small thrift shop in Campbell Business Park.
Earlier this week, the foundation’s thrift shop had so much stuff piled on its premises that it took workers half an hour to clear a path through the junk.
Sadly, this is hardly new. The dumping of unwanted items is a perennial problem at charities throughout St. Albert and beyond, like LoSeCa and the Salvation Army. Other charities that accept used items routinely report having to deal with stuff that clearly doesn’t meet their donation criteria.
Even if some of the items are sellable, since they’re dumped after hours, there are usually scavengers who pick through them before the staff have a chance to, leaving only the junk behind, which is usually scattered about the parking lot in an even bigger mess than before.
Unfortunately, no amount of complaining or newswriting seems to have any effect on this type of behaviour. It just seems to be an unfortunate reality that some in our society are willing to foist their problems onto others. For the responsible and caring among us who want to make a positive difference, about all we can do in the face of this type of boorish behaviour is to continue to support these charities with our time and our appropriate donations, delivered within normal business hours, so they can more easily handle the time and cost implications of cleaning up other people’s messes.
It’s hardly a solution, but it’s about the best we’ve got.
