Over 450 vehicles drive through at last donation event
GOLDEN AGE FOUNDATION
Golden Age Foundation (GAF) volunteers received donations from 456 vehicles at the last Salvation Army donation event of the year on Dec. 13, filling three trucks.
Over 24 GAF volunteers worked steadily over two shifts during the five hour event alongside four Salvation Army employees. At one point during the event, an employee had to return to the Salvation Army donation center in Long Beach to unload one full truck and return with an empty one to continue taking donations from the community.
GAF volunteers helped employees with unloading donations from cars and moving boxes to the containers so workers could tightly stack containers into the trucks.
Most of the 456 cars had an average of 5-7 bags of donations. Items collected included small furniture, kitchen appliances, house appliances, golf clubs, five bicycles, living room sets, TVs, luggage, a dozen men’s suits with hangers, boxes of shoes, CDs, books, women’s handbags, vacuum cleaners, comforters, small desks, cans of soup, and other miscellaneous items.
Notable donated items at this event included special, antique collector’s item dolls in the original boxes with documents intact. Mutual 1 resident Ying Bi donated his e-bike, saying it was time to part ways with the bike as he ages.
For future events, the GAF asks the community to be patient with volunteers and workers unloading the vehicles. The GAF encourages more people to arrive in the afternoon after 12:30 p.m. to help disperse traffic andeasewait timesinthe morning.
The program, dubbed “Salvation Saturdays,” brings Salvation Army donation trucks into Leisure World every other month, providing a convenient and cost-effective way for residents to rid themselves of unwanted items. In addition to giving residents a venue to drop off donations, the program also saves shareholders money since it cuts down on expensive haul-away costs for items that were previously disposed of at the 1.8-Acre Site.
These donations also help the community outside of Leisure World. All items go to support the Salvation Army’s thrift stores, which in turn fund and help the Adult Rehabilitation Centers located across Southern California. The Salvation Army
DONATION , page 13 project is under the stewardship of the GAF. The next service will be Saturday, Feb. 21, from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Amphitheater.
GAF thanks volunteers Anna Derby, Rosemarie Da Roza, Charlie Dunn, Tonette Kadrmas, Geneva Potepan, Tracy Day, Carol Ostergarrd, Mary Dodd, and Karen Whittkamm for their hard work.
The Salvation Army accepts donations of clean, gently used, salable household items including clothing, bedding, linens, kitchenware, small appliances and electronics, toys, sporting goods, books, art, home decor and small- and medium-sized furniture.
For more information, contact Geneva Potepan at 951-6754271 or email mom4rascal@aol.com. —Anna Derby The GAF is not affiliated with the Golden Rain Foundation or LWSB in any way.
Mutual 1 resident Ying Bi (left) donated his e-bike to the Salvation Army.
