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Recession bites deep into local charity shops

Wednesday, 08 April 2009

NORTHSIDE charity shops are feeling the full impact of the recession with donations hitting rock bottom since the beginning of the year. Enable Ireland, which has 19 charity shops nationwide, said last week that their Finglas shop has suffered a 100 per cent downturn in donations while their Phibsboro outlet reported a 50 per cent drop. The picture for the charity is less bleak in central Dublin with stores on Camden Street, Georges Street, Thomas Street and Capel Street only slightly down on donations. Ann Hunt who has been managing the Finglas Enable store in Finglas Village for the past nine years said her staff really began to notice the dramatic fall off in donations towards the end of January. “I think it’s simply a case of people not going out and buying new stuff because of the recession, so they are not getting rid of their older items either,” she explained. Ms Hunt said the Finglas store had traditionally enjoyed very good donations from the public with items of clothes, shoes, accessories, linen and bric-a-brac regularly being donated to the shop. “All the goods we take in have to be in good order so they can be resold and the only items we won’t take are electrical goods for health and safety reasons,” she said. “This dramatic decline in donations has happened very suddenly. We were holding our own up until maybe two months ago and then things just went dead. “Another reason why people may not be donating so much at the moment is the abundance of other charities who delivered bags door to door for collection of goods. “This saves people from having to move from their home to donate, however some of these charities are totally bogus.” Enable Ireland is urging the public to spring clean their homes, with advice from leading interior designer, Fiona Wilson, from RTÉ’s Desperate Houses. “People often don’t realise how much clutter they have accumulated in their homes until they stop to look,” said Fiona. “I’m advising people to take a step back and try and see their homes from someone else’s point of view. “Anything of decent quality that you don’t use or need, such as clothing and textiles, accessories, bric-a-brac, donate it to Enable Ireland. “Everything else, throw it out. You’ll be clearing your house of clutter and helping a really worthwhile cause at the same time.” Gerard Kenny, Retail Development Manager with Enable Ireland, said the charity wants to raise awareness among the public to encourage people to donate so that they have the stock to meet that demand. “It’s mid-term break time and the kids will be off so it’s a great time to ask people to do a clear out and donate to Enable Ireland,” said Mr Kenny