Crosslines Opens New Drop Box After Thefts
“We help out a lot of people in the community with clothing and bedding, household items in general. Anything above and beyond that gets sold in the thrift shop. We had to take quite a bit out of our budget for food for the year to build the box. It was money that could have been better spent on food if we hadn’t had to do it.”
Crosslines of McDonald County has opened a new drop box. Their old drop box was closed for a time following a string of thefts from it.
“We were having a lot of theft from the drop box. It was being rummaged through and torn up,” said Angie Martin, executive director of Crosslines. “We visited with the Anderson chief of police and Mr. Bill Dobbs, prosecuting attorney, and they suggested we build a new drop box on the front of the building where it can be seen a little better. We lit it up and we beefed up our security cameras and put extra security cameras on it.”
The old drop box was in the back of the building, she said.
The drop box was finished about three weeks ago. People can drop off donations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We had to lock up the old one because the theft was so bad,” Martin said. “We will prosecute if we find people in the drop box for other reasons than dropping off.” A sign on the drop box states: “Any after-hour activity other than dropping off donations will be considered trespassing and will be prosecuted.”
Martin noted, “We help people every day. If they need help, they can come inside and get it. They don’t have to steal it.”
Items dropped off at the drop box are sold in the thrift shop.
“The money that our thrift shop brings in buys groceries for our pantry, so it’s kind of crucial that our thrift shop do well so that we can buy food,” she said.
She said people have dropped off everything from household items, dishes and clothing, to bicycles.
“We help out a lot of people in the community with clothing and bedding, household items in general. Anything above and beyond that gets sold in the thrift shop,” she said. “We had to take quite a bit out of
Angie Martin Executive director of Crosslines
our budget for food for the year to build the box. It was money that could have been better spent on food if we hadn’t had to do it. It was well over $1,000 by the time we got done.”
The thrift shop is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The pantry is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and noon to 4 p.m. Thursday. Crosslines has been in operation since 1998 and at its current location in Anderson for 12 years.