'We love donations' ... but Regina charity fills a dumpster with unusable items

It may have been done with good intentions to help the less fortunate, but people at Carmichael Outreach in Regina say donated goods found piled up behind their building were not of any use and ended up in a trash bin and the city's landfill.

"A couple of our staff came and cleaned it up and they'll have taken some stuff out to the dump," Tyler Gray, from Carmichael Outreach, said Sunday.

Gray said staff were away from the office for a few days last week for meetings and discovered the items on Friday.

He said it is not unusual to find unwanted things, from time to time.

"It's one of those things that comes with the territory," Gray said. "Somebody will come by, off-hours, and leave us a huge mess to clean up."

Gray said the items they have found have been in pretty poor condition.

"Really broken down, unusable furniture; stained or really tattered or unusable clothing; really broken-up toys," were among the items staff have found, he said. "Old stuff past its usable life cycle."

Gray said they welcome donations, but add that respect for the people who receive them is important.

"Can someone use this?" he asked. "Is it really something that really upholds the values that we have as an organization of treating people with respect and dignity and giving them empowerment? Or is it something that's probably better to just kind of make its way out to the dump?"

Gray stressed that the organization welcomes all sorts of support, including receiving household goods which can be very helpful in getting someone set up in a new home.

"We love donations," Gray said. "We don't run without the generosity of our community but we'd much prefer if people brought them Monday to Friday, 9 to 4:30."