After Donations Pile Up, Volunteers To Clean Up Items Outside Closed Coraopolis Thrift Shop
ALLEGHENY COUNTY (KDKA) -- The piles of donations surrounding a closed Coraopolis thrift store are finally on the way out.
The St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store has been bombarded by donations they cannot process as they remain closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
People are leaving their donations outside the store, and the amount of items has become too much.
"It's been very frustrating because we can't process the donations," said Ricardo Luckow, executive director of Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
It's not just the Coraopolis store getting overwhelmed with donations.
Photos posted to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Facebook page show their blue bins across the region surrounded with bags full of people's unwanted items.
Luckow says the donations will go to waste.
"There's no other choice," Luckow said. "As soon as clothing gets wet, it's unusable, and even furniture after it gets wet after a few days, there's that risk of mold."
There was concern over the cost of moving the items into the trash but St. Vincent de Paul, along with the Borough of Coraopolis, reached a solution.
On Saturday morning, Coraopolis' mayor and a pre-selected group of volunteers will move all of the items into dumpsters and dispose of them.
Once cleanup is done, busses and trucks will line the perimeter of the store's parking lot to discourage people from further dumping their donations.
"A crisis can bring out the worst in some, and the best in others," said Corapolis Mayor Shawn Reed in a Facebook post on Friday. "Coraopolis has more of the best people, and tomorrow will be yet another day to prove it."
To maintain social distancing, the cleanup is a private event and no other volunteers are needed.
In the meantime, Luckow says people can help by donating cash or hanging onto their donations until the store opens again.
"We're asking people to keep their donations until we're back in business, which we're all hopeful it will happen, it will happen soon," he said.
According to the mayor, the cleanup will be streamed on Facebook Live beginning at 10:30 Saturday morning.
