Things you never expect to hear....

I could fall over from shock atm:

Something amazing happened.
Something really amazing.
Not good amazing either.

In this land of plenty, where there are so many wealthy folk, there are also those in need. More and more needy arrive as summer beckons. The temperate climate ensures it. So the rich and privileged deign to donate items to the local charities that benefit the poor and needy. And what do they donate?

The items that get donated are predominantly squarely in the *stuff* category.
Things that adorn abodes. Needless things. Electronic things. Porcelain and copper and brass things. Non-essentials.

This is not to say that food items are not. Just not in such bounty.

If you do not have a roof over your head you probably do not care what colour your sheets are.

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A small private School comprised of, perhaps, 40 families.
An affluent community with many many retirees of wealth and stature.
A booming economy and rapid growth. Unsustainable, but still....

The School runs at a loss. That is not intentional, it is just the way of things. Tuition is moderate, 200 -400 per month with assistance available to those who require it. Many require it.

"For the love of your child."
That is the motto of the School.
There are a few fundraisers every year that make up an essential part of the operating budget. One such fundraiser has as a component, a garage sale. Typically the items donated for this event are better tha what you see in many stores. Alot of people in the community who do not necessarily have children in the school support it by donating items. The sale is volunteer staffed and ran and many hours go into the setup sale and takedown.

At the end of the day, there is always so much left over that it takes up a 40 foot wall of the gymnasium, even stacked in neatly packed boxes. What to do? One would think the local Thrift stores would want it. After all, if it was left on their doorstop in the night they would take it. They generally come and take it.

This year for some unfathomable reason, the driver sent explained patiently to the poor staff member who opened the gym to him, that they were inundated with "this sort of stuff" and could not possibly take it away. Here we are one week later with a gym full of boxes.

Many of the families that go to this school also go to the Church that supports this Thrift shop to the tune of 12% of their budget through an annual event. Not one dime of the event is kept by the church and THOUSANDS of volunteer hours of time go into it. The monies collected at this event help staff a store, run a crisis line, operate a haven for battered women, etc etc.

And they cherry-picked us. Little school, bullied by a Goliath who is kept and fed by the hands that support it.

We really live in a sick society when the advise is: "Take that stuff to the dump."

My heart breaks for these sorts of things.