St. Vincent De Paul on East Michigan Avenue has been having a trash dumping problem for several weeks. Over the weekend donations were boxed and neatly left outside the building. Through out the night someone tore through the boxes, took what they wanted, and left everything else lying around the parking lot.
The things that were left were drenched by the rain and had to be thrown away. St. Vincent now has a policy that donations can only be dropped off during business hours.
"We loved having the idea that somebody could leave a quality donation while we are not open, and you know for somebody or people in the community just to abuse that and not have that right anymore. It's a little disconcerting, you know we have to do what we have to do," said Brian Cook, Store Manager at St. Vincent.
The worst part is the St. Vincent is having to pay for the cleanup with money that's supposed to be used to help people. They have set up a camera system and no dumping signs to try to help eliminate the problem.
There's another spot in Jackson County that's has a dumping problem and that one doesn't seem to be getting better.
Last week we showed you volunteers working to get rid of the trash left in the parking lot of the old K-Mart on Michigan Avenue.
Today, people have left mattresses and a vacuum cleaner behind. The volunteers told us they're worried the donation bin in the parking lot is encouraging others to dump their trash here.
The company that owns the donation bins keep hanging up the phone when called to have it removed.
We'll keep an eye on this and let you know if anything changes.
