VOLUNTEERS at local op-shops are fed up with people dumping donations that could be put to good use.
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Not even a fence around the Duri Road Vinnies shop could stop the problem, while at the Salvos Family Store members of the public have helped themselves to donations left outside.
At the Salvos, there were enough dumped goods to half-fill a skip bin and a third of a three-tonne truck, Salvos Tamworth core officer Harriet Farquhar said.
"There were beautiful donations, really beautiful donations but I rocked up at 4pm on Sunday to two young men helping themselves," she said.
"It was just a waste of some beautiful donations because people go through them and throw them.
"If the bins are full we would love if people would wait until the shop is open because it's horrible throwing out stuff we could have sold."
Recent rain and floods across Tamworth damaged the ceiling of the Duri Road Vinnies shop, and it has remained closed since.
North West area manager Julie Crosby said it was damaged by storms in November and the rain made things ten times worse.
"The fence was there to make a clear indication we were closed," she said.
"The volunteers drive past the shop now just to make sure it looks tidy and they have to pick up the donations that are spread across after dogs have been at it.
"People donate with good a conscience and they are good quality items that are now ruined."
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As a result the shop will install four donation bins outside for when it reopens towards the end of April.
With the recent floods, Vinnies has been supplying household goods and clothing to families in Moree who need them, Ms Crosby said.
"Please donate items correctly, when they are left out the front they are destroyed very quickly, people go through it, spread it out and it rains and becomes an ugly situation very quickly," she said.
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