1. Videos (VHS) - no one wants them and even the local tip refuses has stopped specifically having a place for them - it's the general landfill for them!
2. Electrical items that have stopped working or become dangerous - strange how people think that a non-working bit of electronics might work if given to the church.
3.Pottery - especially the three-legged shire horse and the amazingly chipped stuff.
4. Holiday mementoes - funny how sombreros and many other 'holiday' related stuff ends up here. Rarely finds a home outside that big tip in the sky!
5. Surgical and prosthetic stuff - yes, really. Crutches and the like (including bed pans) have all arrived at our doors as the tide of live ebbs away. The intention is accompanied by the sadness of loss and this is always a tough area. This sometimes leads into
6. Wheelchairs - Which are always pretty useful as I supply other churches so that they can offer one for visitors (and their own if the need arises) and increase their welcome.
7. China - sometimes wonderful, often mixed and not matched, chipped and being thrown away because they are not fit for use anymore. But still they come.
8. Glass - vases, glasses and kitchen stuff - can be useful and passed on, but often chipped, cracked and as useless to us as it was to the person who donated it!
9. Kitchenware - always useful if serviceable, just not always serviceable. Often find a home for this with the homeless we help locate and settle in.
10. Books. I love them but they are bulky and often no one wants them. If only I had the time to read many of the books because they are books! No more reason needed from my part, but they are bulky, heavy and difficult to store and so get passed to someone who uses them on stalls at various charity fairs.
11. Toys - many old McD toys plus many puzzles (incomplete) and stuff that kids have broken or grown out of (which our girls buy and bring home :-( ).
12. Children's clothes - which oddly rarely go anywhere as everyone seems to want new stuff, and
13. General clothing - which almost always, without fail, ends up going for rags (and so blesses the Air Cadets).
I hope this gives some insight into the sort of stuff that arrives (I've left out furniture and the numerous 'cottage suites') and provides some food for thought for the next time you fancy dropping stuff off at your local church building. We aren't charity shops and they are beginning to hate us for trying to offload the stuff given to us, so please think before you donate.
What do you mean there isn't a single pair!