Agassiz-Harrison Community Services (AHCS) Thrift Store, located at 6919 Cheam Avenue, survives on donations from the community and is very grateful for those donations. Many items left at the back of the building are very useable and help to generate the funds needed to provide services for the community. What has become increasingly disturbing is the amount of actual unusable items and trash dumped on the property with the expectation that AHCS will deal with the unusable items.
Abandoned garbage causes health and environmental risks, encourages more illegal dumping and sends a message that illegal activity is ok in our neighbourhood. The consequence of the illegal dumping is that it costs, more than $9,000 each year to remove the trash and this takes away from services intended for those in need in our community.
The organization is asking the community to please continue donating useable items. “We couldn’t do it without you, but we are asking those who drop off items that we don’t take or can’t use to please STOP using the Thrift Store as a place to drop off your unwanted or unusable items. Ask yourself these questions before you drop off an unusable item: Would you want it in your house or yard? Would the item you’re trying to “get rid of” be of value to YOU? When in doubt throw it out! Please remember the Thrift Store is not a recycling depot and it costs AHCS money to remove the unusable items dumped in our back yard. We also request, if making a donation from a home that smokes to please clean the item before donating to the Thrift Store. For environmental and health reasons we cannot accept items that have a strong nicotine odor or are yellowed from smoke/nicotine into the store, this can severely influence the health and wellbeing of the customers, volunteers and staff.
The types of items we DO NOT ACCEPT are the following:
Car seats (due to mechanical and safety concerns)
Automotive parts
Liquids of any kind
Bathtubs
Waterbeds
Mattresses or box springs
Large carpets or underlay
Photocopiers
Computers parts
Fax machines
Large desks (over 4 ft. long)
Dressers without drawers
Encyclopaedias
Magazines (older than 2 years)
Gas fireplaces
Gyproc, building supplies
Organs/pianos
Paints and sprays
Large Appliances
Long sofas (7-8 ft.)
Swing sets, Trampolines
Broken Items eg: TV’s, Dishes etc
Dirty, Stained or Ripped clothing
Donation hours are Monday to Saturday 8:30 – 3:30. AHCS management requests that you please bring your generous donation during these hours. If your donation is dropped off outside of those hours, the elements (rain/snow) will destroy/damage your donation and it will sadly be put in the trash.
Agassiz-Harrison Community Services thanks you for items that are in good repair and working order; we cannot operate without the communities’ help and appreciate your very generous donations!