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Charities benefit from used goods

A number of Foothills organizations have benefitted from the sale of items that have been kept out of the landfill. The Foothills Salvage and Recycling Centre is donating $120,000 among 20 different groups.

A number of Foothills organizations have benefitted from the sale of items that have been kept out of the landfill.

The Foothills Salvage and Recycling Centre is donating $120,000 among 20 different groups. All profits from the organization are donated to charities each year.

“It basically comes from patrons and shopping,” said salvage centre manager Candice Dupré. “It’s our residual income that’s going into the charities who applied for funding, or to charities chosen by our volunteers.”

Anyone who volunteers at the salvage centre earns charitable dollars for their hours of service, she said. At the end of the year, they are able to choose which organization receives the dollars they have accumulated and they receive a tax-deductible receipt, she said.

Typically, half the money is put towards those who have applied and the other half goes to organizations chosen by volunteers, she said. Applications are considered by the Foothills Salvage and Recycling Society board, she said.

This year, the board provided $60,000 to 12 organizations that applied, including $12,000 to the Okotoks Family Resource Centre; $10,000 to Food for Thought in High River; $5,000 each to Habitat for Humanity, the Boys & Girls Club Foothills Chapter, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Rowan House, It Takes a Village and The Time of Need Association. The board also provided $3,000 to the Foothills Country Hospice, $2,000 each to the Okotoks and High River food banks and $1,000 to the Kinette Club of High River playground.

Volunteers donated anywhere from $120 to $8,260 to various organizations, including Pound Rescue, Meals on Wheels, St. Francis de Sales and St. James parishes and Narrow Road Home in High River.

Matt Rockley, who sits on the Foothills Salvage and Recycling Society board, said the funding decisions were more difficult to make this year, because the society received more applications than it had money.

“I think the last two years we’ve had more applicants than dollars,” said Rockley. “The awareness of this has grown for sure over the last three years.”

He said the board focuses primarily on applications geared toward basic needs like food, safety, shelter and health.

Despite having a mandate, the decisions are still hard to make, he said.

“Everybody who applied is doing good work in the community and charitable work in the community,” said Rockley. “It’s always easier when you’ve got more money than applications, but when you have to start picking and choosing it’s always difficult because everybody is deserving and could certainly benefit from the additional funding.”

The amount of funding available for groups depends on how profitable operations at the salvage centre are each year. Dupré said this was a good year at the centre, but the amount sought by applicants amounted to close to $300,000.

Profits come from the sales of used goods donated by patrons throughout the year, and inventory at the Foothills Salvage Centre is always changing, she said.

“People drop off just about anything,” said Dupré. “The only thing we don’t accept is large appliances, but we do take household appliances, clothing, bedding, shoes, bikes, exercise equipment, sporting equipment, just about everything.”

She’s hoping to be able to house more construction materials to bring in more revenue with a new building they’ve added to the site at the Foothills Regional Landfill and Resource Recovery Centre.

The Foothills Salvage Centre is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday. For more information visit www.fsrsonline.com.

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