Add this one to the “no good deed goes unpunished” category.
The Salvation Army staff in Key West returned to its Flagler Avenue thrift store after the New Year holiday to find clothes and other household items strewn across its rear parking lot.
Donors left the items in the parking lot and scavenging residents helped themselves while turning the property lot into a dump site.
“When we are closed and people donate, other people come and go through everything and take what they want and leave us this mess,” said Susan VanDePutte, administrative assistant at the organization. “Would you be able to put something in the Keys Weekly asking people to only donate when we are open? We are the largest recycler of clothing and household goods in the Keys, and when people spread it all over the ground we must throw it away. It’s a heartbreaking waste.”
The Salvation Army, 1924 Flagler Ave., is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. every day but Sunday.
