Charity shop's plea for donations

A CHARITY shop in Grimsby has issued an urgent appeal for donations.

Jo Swallow, manager of the British Heart Foundation Shop in Freeman Street, says stock has fallen to the lowest level she can remember.

And she is calling on residents in North East Lincolnshire to hand in any unwanted clothing, shoes, DVDs, CDs and books to ensure the shop can continue raising money for the charity.

She said the shop was receiving as many as 50 fewer bags a week in donated stock than a year ago, as more people choose to sell their unwanted items.

"We have got a little bit of stock in reserve but not a great deal to keep us going. Any type of donation would be gratefully received.

"One bag of stock is worth £20 to the British Heart Foundation and the work it does is very important as heart disease is one of the UK's biggest killers.

"Many of the defibrillators in ambulances are provided by the British Heart Foundation and it also provides three nurses at Grimsby Hospital.

"We also provide booklets to schools promoting healthy eating and physical activity."

Jo said the charity's other shops in Victoria Street, Grimsby and St Peter's Avenue, Cleethorpes, were also desperate for stock.

By contrast, the Cash4Clothes store in nearby Hainton Avenue, has seen a big increase in the amount of stock being sold by local residents since it opened in January last year. The store, which is part of a national chain, pays 60p for every kilogram of unwanted clothes. Most of the stock is given to people in deprived countries overseas.

Franchisee Andrius Labanavicius concedes that the opening of the shop has affected donations to charity shops, but insists it is benefiting the local community.

He said: "There has been an increase in the amount of clothes people are bringing to the shop and one of the reasons is that people are skint.

"I would say that half of the people used to take their clothes to charity shops and the other half used to just bin their clothes.

"Most people were very happy that we opened a shop in the area. We do not want to put charity shops out of business.

"We just want to help the local community by giving them money for their clothes."