AHUKINI — The most important thing people need to know about the monthly Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center donation event is the crew will next be on Kaua‘i on Sept. 29 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kaua‘i Resource Center on Ahukini Road.
The resource center is adjacent to the Reynolds HI5 recycling center and the Lihu‘e Refuse Transfer Station.
“There will be no October collection,” said David Chung, the ARC team leader, who flies in from O‘ahu for the monthly collection. “People need to take advantage of the September collection because the next time we’ll be back after September is in November.”
There was a steady flow of contributors through the KRC on Friday, when Chung joined his crew in loading up the third High Top shipping container.
“We’ve been busy all morning,” Chung said. “With about three hours to go, we’ve already logged in at least 115 cars. Most of the cars had heavy loads.”
This led to the third shipping container being packed, each of the containers holding at least 7,000 pounds of material.
“That’s more than 20,000 pounds that would otherwise end up in our landfill,” said Shantelle Rego, the project leader from the county’s Solid Waste Division. “With no collection scheduled for October, maybe we can look at four containers instead of three.”
Among the line of contributors, Rose Manago of the Memory Keepers team for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s went through with a pickup full of cartons containing the remnants of its rummage sale to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association at Lihu‘e Neighborhood Center on Aug. 19.
“We did alright,” said Manago who is part of the effort put forth by the Agency on Elderly Affairs. “The walk might have been postponed (in consideration of the Maui disaster), but we’re still the top fundraising team at about $12,000, and we still have one more sale remaining. Our goal for this year was $10,000.”
Manago has been heading up the Memory Keepers with Patricia Gonsalves for the last 18 years.
Residents, businesses, and other organizations can bring in unwanted or unneeded items for reuse, including clothing, small furniture, children’s books, toys and shoes. Clothing and textiles do not need to be in good condition; torn or stained clothing will be accepted.
What is not allowed includes eWaste, chemicals, appliances or broken items.
The county urges the public to check with their local thrift stores to see if they can take donations before bringing items to the ARC monthly donation event at KRC.
The ARC also offers pick-up services to thrift stores and businesses. Call 808-241-4336 to schedule new service. For individuals wanting home pick-up service, contact the Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 808-335-6105.
For information about general recycling or reuse, visit www.kauai.gov/recycling, or www.kauai.gov/reuse, or call 808-241-4841.