General News
27 November, 2025
Salvos set donation cut-off ahead of Christmas break
THE Ararat Salvation Army store is urging donors to be mindful of what they drop off pre- and post-Christmas and when, as the organisation prepares for its annual Christmas shutdown. Store staff say donations remain open for now, but the window is closing quickly.
“We're still taking donations at the moment. We're closing no more donations from December 22nd until we reopen on the 5th of January,” Manager Kris Hughes said.
With no volunteers on-site during the break, the store cannot manage items left outside
“There'll be no one here to bring them inside. No one here to sort them, no one here to clean them up when they're attacked overnight,” she said.
“If you donate outside our hours, we cannot guarantee that we get any of it. It's a constant stream every single night of people coming and taking your donations.”
The store has been working to reduce stock overflow, including sharing items between the Wendouree and Eaglehawk stores, but the volume of unsellable goods continues to rise.
“So we are getting way too much, unfortunately, it’s stuff we can’t sell. So that is what we want in the community to really consider,” Kris said.
Sorting unsuitable donations is taking a toll on volunteers.
“If people collect all the clothes they don't want and throw them into 10 bags. Out of those 10 bags, we might find one bag of clothes that we can sell,” said Kris, explaining that with damaged items frequently being donated to the Salvo’s a mindset change is in order.
“If you would buy it, donate it to the Salvos. Quality still matters to customers. If they find a little tear or a nick, our customers won't buy it. Our customers expect to be able to come in here and buy something that's in good condition.”
Reducing waste would make a major difference to the Salvos according to Kris.
“If we could try and reduce that, that would have a huge impact, it would free up the volunteers to be able to get more into the shop, it would reduce our waste, which reduces their cost and then gives us more money to use back into the community.”
The amount of waste is taking a toll on the shop as well.
Without transport, the local store cannot take unusable items to the tip themselves.
“We don't have a truck. We don't have a trailer. We don't have a driver. We don't have volunteer numbers to be able to leave the shop and take things to the tip.” This leads to unnecessary spending on tip and skip fees, which could be better used elsewhere in the community
However, there is a solution available for those unwanted damaged clothes.
Kris suggests dividing items up for those that are usable and those that need to be scrapped.
“There's a great big skip at the local tip, like a donation bin for damaged clothes. So when they're going through their clothes, if they could make one bag for us and one bag for the skip.”
Despite the challenges, Kris says the community’s generosity remains strong.
“In terms of the donations that we get, it is amazing. We are so well supported. And it's brilliant. There's been a massive, massive improvement in the amount of stuff.”
The Salvation Army store is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm, and Saturday, 9am to 2pm.
Staff stress that dropping off during those hours is the only way to ensure donations reach the store.
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