Donations piling up outside St. Vincent de Paul store; people urged to stop

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. — Piles of donations outside the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Coraopolis have grown substantially in recent weeks, and the charity is now urging people to stop.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the St. Vincent de Paul Society said it cannot process the items being donated.

The piles of donations that now wrap around the building on Chess Street and into its parking lot include clothing, electronics and furniture.

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“It’s gotten out of hand,” Chris Connolly, who owns a property nearby, said. “It keeps growing every day, so now people are coming and dropping it off, and then you got the barriers up.”

The barriers now surround the parking lot, asking people not to drop off donations.

St. Vincent de Paul had to close all of its stores because of the pandemic.

While the people who have been donating mean well, those donations might now create a cleanup cost for the charity, since workers aren’t able to process them.

St. Vincent de Paul is not only unable to service its stores, but also its drop boxes across the region, which are also overflowing.

People should hold onto their donations until St. Vincent de Paul is cleared to reopen its stores. However, monetary donations can still be made HERE, and people can call 412-343-4455 to register to volunteer once things are back up and running.

RAW: Thrift stores struggling with donations RAW: Thrift stores struggling with donations

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