KUNKLETOWN, Pa. — Volunteers are busy inside the Kunkletown Thrift Store in Eldred Township, even when the store is empty.
When they are closed to the public, workers say Tuesdays are some of their busiest days, especially in the sorting room, where they go through all the donated clothing.
"Everything has to be gone through. The sorting ladies are here. They touch every piece of clothing to make sure it's not ripped, stained. Then they sort it by size," said Donna Deihl, the manager at the thrift store.
She says about 20 to 30 bags of clothing are donated daily. That's not including household or other items.
But with an increase in inventory coming from spring cleaning, they're receiving more, and it's piling up.
"Comforters, Christmas decorations, even Thanksgiving decorations, winter clothes," Deihl said.
All donations are looked over and then sorted before being placed on display. The manager says they don't keep everything they receive.
"If it's dirty, if it's moldy, we don't want it," Deihl said. "If it didn't sell at a yard sale for a quarter, we really have no use for it either."
Lorie Jacobs, the assistant manager, says when donating, it usually helps to have all items separated by categories – for example, clothing and linens, household pieces, or books and games.
"It helps because when you make a delivery here, a donation, certain things go to certain areas, and a lot of our customers know what they're now. But we still have new people delivering, and we like to let them know what products go where," Jacobs said.
Personal or broken items, sporting equipment, mattresses, and car seats are just some of the things they don't take.
The Kunkletown Thrift Store accepts donations on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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