23-05-2025
'Please stop': Trash dumping and theft on the rise at Evansville Rescue Mission
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – If you ask any thrift store shopper, most will tell you 'one person's trash is another person's treasure'. But in the last several weeks outside of the Evansville Rescue Mission Thrift Store, the treasures have been stolen while the trash is left behind.
'I think the only thing we would say is, 'please stop'.' That is the plea from Eddie Rapp with the Evansville Rescue Mission after what he calls a 'drastic' increase in reports of individuals dumping large amounts of trash where donations are collected. 'Not only is trash being dumped,' explains Rapp, 'they're actually going through and picking items they want for themselves and leaving. And what's interesting is it occurs at 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning, 10 o'clock at night, so there's no one here where we can assist them to really help with the donations, so we know the intent isn't to be a positive donor for the community.'
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Some of the incidents have been captured by the store's surveillance camera. Rapp says the increase over the past two months forced the Rescue Mission to coordinate with Evansville Police, placing a neighborhood surveillance vehicle outside of the donation drop-off.
'It's just gotten to the point where it literally encompasses our entire donation facility, the outside platform, our donation bins,' says Rapp. 'Yeah, it's visually discerning, for sure.' Not just visually discerning, but costly, too.
'I think what probably isn't realized is that costs us a lot of money. It fills up dumpsters that we have to have removed, it's our resources, and ultimately it's exhausting to our staff to have to deal with it on a daily basis,' says Rapp. 'It's kind of a double loss: not only are you not getting the donation to have the impact they desired in the first place, but you're also costing money that's taking away funds that could be used to help somebody.'
The Rescue Mission is asking residents to only drop off donations during operating hours of 8 am to 6 pm, and to not leave items next to their bins. Evansville Police say there are no updates on the search for these individuals.
'Please stop': Trash dumping and theft on the rise at Evansville Rescue Mission
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