Items dumped at Thrift Shop make volunteers angry

WINSTED —  Volunteers at The Auxiliary Thrift Shop,  120 Willow St., are angry that residents have started to use the store to dump furniture, mattresses and other items. 

The Auxiliary is a non-profit organization that was founded over 100 years ago to offer financial aid to community health programs.

All items purchased and donated to The Auxiliary Thrift Shop help to support health related programs in and around Winsted. 

However, the shop does not accept furniture and electronic equipment.

According to organization President Milly Hudak, this has not stopped people from dumping items in front of the store when it is closed.

“People are dumping all of their unwanted items,” Hudak said. “There is a sign in the window of the store that says, ‘No television sets, no large furniture and no exercise equipment.’ People have dumped in front of the store mattresses and overstuffed furniture.”

Hudak said recently the volunteers who work at the store discovered that, while the store was closed, someone dumped a large circa-1990s television set in front of the store.

“That television set is huge,” she said. “All of us who volunteer at the store are senior citizens. How do they expect us to get rid of it?”

Hudak said the organization has had to pay people to take away the unwanted item and dispose of it.

“Here we are trying to give every penny that we earn back to the community and instead we’re spending money to get rid of unwanted items,” Hudak said. “I just want to tell people that we appreciate donations and encourage them, but we don’t want them to dump items on the store.”

Hudak said she did not know how much money it has cost the organization so far to dispose of the unwanted items, but that the dumping usually takes place during the weekends.

If anyone has any information on the dumping they are encouraged to call the store at 860-379-1997.