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Ten weird items donated to Mind charity shops

Howard Lake | 14 February 2020 | News

Mental health charity Mind has shared a list of some of the most peculiar items donated to its charity shops in the past year.
People donate the most amazing items to charity shops, and almost all of them can be converted into money to fund a charity’s work. Some are surprisingly valuable, others are simply peculiar. In the past year alone volunteers in Mind’s shops have come across a pair of see-through trousers, a used toilet seat and a box of human ashes.
Here is the charity’s latest list of 10 odd items donated to its shops. Not surprisingly, not all of them could be used by the charity.
 

Toilet seat donated to Mind's Guisborough shop

Toilet seat donated to Mind’s Guisborough shop


 

 

Pregnant doll held by Mind charity shop manager at Alnwick

Pregnant doll held by Mind charity shop manager at Alnwick

How charity shop managers react to weird donations 

Usually donated items are re-used, re-cycled or re-sold to be used again. But that assumes a certainly cleanliness and fit-for-purpose state of the donated items.
Charity shop managers certainly get to see a wide variety of donated items.
Helen McMillan, Manager at the Alnwick Mind shop, said: “The pregnant doll is complete with a removable ‘bump’ to reveal a hidden baby which can be taken out, and a stomach that flips to a flat one for when the baby’s been born – like that happens haha!
“We keep it on our shelf of weird and wonderful things – dolls with eyes hanging out, that sort of thing. We once had a bag full of rubbish, where they’d obviously mixed up the bag of donations with a bag of rubbish! That one didn’t make it to the shelf…”
 

Mind's Alnwich shop has a shelf of weird donated items

Mind’s Alnwick shop has a shelf of weird donated items


 
Andrew Vale, Director of Mind Retail, said: “We are so grateful that people across the country donate to Mind shops.
“We get an interesting mix of items, and while I am not sure what I would do with transparent trousers, we urge everyone to keep giving.
“Last year thousands of donations were made to our 167 Mind shops, allowing us to help over 118,000 people through our helplines. With your help we can reach more people this year, which goes a long way in supporting those of us with a mental health problem.”
 

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