Clothes sorters needed

Hospice has a backlog of donated clothing.

Hospice Taranaki’s warehouse is overflowing with bags of clothes. Piles of bulky black bags fill every spare space and the hospice is desperately seeking volunteers to help sort through the donated clothing so it can be fed through to its two shops.

‘‘Donated bags of clothing are our biggest quantity and our biggest challenge in terms of processing,’’ hospice chief executive Kevin Nielsen said.

‘‘At the moment we’ve got such a buildup of donated clothing that we haven’t got the resources to actually sort so we’re really struggling.’’

He estimates the warehouse has almost 1000 bags waiting to be sorted.

‘‘The goods are no value to us until we sell them so sitting in bags is not generating any income for us. We need to clear that backlog.’’

Initially the bags need to be opened up and sorted into categories.

‘‘Then we have what we call a second sort, which is taking a much closer look at those items and ensuring that they’re in a fit state to go to our shops.’’

After that they’re stored in their categories until they’re needed at the shops.

‘‘We have a fantastic team of volunteers sorting. We really need some more. It only needs to be a few hours a day or a few hours a week.’’

Nielsen said they’re looking for people who are reasonably fit and able to identify what’s a sellable item and what’s not. If you can lend a hand pop into the warehouse on Borrell Ave and ask for Michelle Porter.

- Words and photo: Yvette Batten