NEWS

'Call first and get here early': Swansea Salvation Army adopts new donation protocol

Charles Winokoor
cwinokoor@heraldnews.com
Vehicles of donors have been lining up each morning at the Swansea Salvation Army store and donation center since it reopened June 10.

SWANSEA – That’s one heck of a donation line.

It’s been nearly two months since the Swansea Salvation Army Family Store and Donation Center at 534 Grand Army Highway reopened its doors to the public.

Up until mid-March, when Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency to guard against the spread of COVID-19, the Route 6 facility was open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Since reopening on June 10, after being shut down for 10 weeks, hours of operation have been curtailed four hours a day, to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Store manager Ruth Mello says she asked all her former employees to return to work but that a third of them balked at the offer.

Mello says the most common explanation she’s gotten from former workers is that they’re having trouble finding child care services.

All her employees work part-time and earn the state minimum wage of $12.75 an hour. Mello said she now needs to hire at least a dozen more people.

But she says there’s definitely an ample supply of generous donors who want to drop off clothing, furniture and other household items.

Mello says since her store and donation center reopened, vehicles loaded with donation items have been lining up at 9 a.m., a full hour before the facility opens for business.

Major Brian Thomas, a 20-year Salvation Army veteran whose Eastern Territory, Providence-area division includes Swansea, says he’s not surprised with the turnout.

Thomas, 55, says he suspects that a fair number of people who have been cooped up at home, as result of the pandemic, have been cleaning up their houses and taking inventory of things to give away.

And that’s in addition to the pent-up desire to donate things they previously had set aside before the June 10 reopening.

“The outpouring has been pretty overwhelming,” said Thomas, who a year ago transferred from Patterson, New Jersey, to Providence. “There was a huge demand once we reopened.”

The chief difference now is that the donation procedure, as result of Thomas’s directive, has become organized, streamlined and regimented.

That’s in contrast to pre-pandemic times when anyone could stop by over the course of a business day to drop off donations.

Thomas said it’s not unusual for donors to be turned away only an hour after the Swansea donation center has opened in the morning, for the simple reason that there’s no more space to properly store items which have to be carefully processed.

All clothes must sit for two days to ensure they aren’t actively contaminated with the coronavirus. It’s only until then, he said, that workers can sort through, tag and place them on hangars for store display.

And although he welcomes and appreciates all donations, Thomas said that "you absolutely should call first and get here early."

The traffic line in Swansea typically stretches from the Route 6 entrance to where Mello stands in front of the canopied donation center attached to the main building, where she lets drivers know when it’s their turn to drive in.

She says one morning when a line of vehicles snaked out onto Route 6 someone called police to complain. Mello said she then assigned a worker to stand near the entrance to try to prevent traffic from spilling out onto the highway.

Thomas said when donations surpass the designated capacity for any given day at his seven stores, six of which are in Rhode Island, the surplus is trucked to the central warehouse in Providence where it eventually is distributed back to stores as space becomes available.

“They’re all getting overwhelmed,” said Thomas, who noted that the 27,000-square-foot Swansea facility is one of the larger ones in the region.

Thomas and Mello said that even before the advent of COVID-19 there had been a longstanding problem with people dumping clothes after hours near the locked entrance gate to the Swansea site.

Thomas says it’s also a nuisance and inconvenience at many other Salvation Army family stores.

But he said “the biggest problem” has been people who show up to scavenge and steal clothes that have been dumped, which he says results in an even bigger mess to be cleaned up.

Thomas stresses that donated clothes should not be torn or ripped and that household items should likewise not be obviously damaged.

“We want things that other people will buy, and its saves our drivers making trips to the dump,” he said.

Captain Mark Ferreira is business administrator at the Salvation Army’s Brockton adult rehabilitation center.

Ferreira says workers at Salvation Army facilities are accustomed to cleaning and sanitizing upholstered furniture.

“But sanitizing hard surfaces and wood furniture is new for us,” he said.

Other store locations within the Brockton division include Taunton, Bridgewater, Hanover and Yarmouth.

Ferreira said stores in his division now close at 5 p.m., instead of 7 p.m., and are open Tuesday through Saturday, as opposed to Monday through Saturday.

He said donated clothing, although used, should not be dirty or smelly.

“We don’t launder clothing, and it’s too expensive to sanitize everything,” Ferreira said.

Thomas says sales proceeds from the Swansea store support the adult rehabilitation center in Providence, which has 126 beds for people who are homeless or are battling drug and alcohol addiction.

Major Brian Thomas is seen here inside the processing area of the Swansea Salvation Army Family Store and Donation Center.