Vinnies are making an impassioned plea for more volunteers, after having lost more than two-thirds of its workforce since COVID.
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Retail area manager Guy Rowe said the majority of their volunteers were on work-for-the-dole programs, which had been suspended as a result of the pandemic.
The program was replaced with alternative schemes such as JobSeeker and JobKeeper.
Mr Rowe said the shop had been enjoying a noticeable increase in donations leading up to Christmas, but needed more members of the community to come on board to help deal with the sudden influx.
"There are probably 10 per day in the store at the moment, when normally we would have had 30 or more in the store," Mr Rowe said.
"I think it's tough for everybody, not just Vinnies. Everybody's suffering."
He said the staffing shortages had meant the remaining workers were constantly stretched to meet the demand, and they needed more helping hands to lighten the load.
Store manager Cassandra Nicholson said the volume of donations always increased around Christmas, but that the volume this year was especially high.
"It's not slowing down at all because people have been home more with COVID they're clearing out their closets which is wonderful for us, but it's increased the volume and on a daily basis it's a massive workload," Ms Nicholson said.
Ms Nicholson said the remaining workers had been struggling to keep up with the sheer volume, but that they did at least have the help of some new recruits who joined during lockdown.
She said many of them had lost their jobs due to COVID and had chosen to dedicate their newfound free time to helping out their local Vinnies branch.
"The upside is the number of men and women who come forward because they feel they want to contribute, and that's been a real upside to the number of volunteers we've had at the moment," Ms Nicholson said.
"Quite a few here are motivated, they're looking for a personal purpose, and they're finding that here."
Those interested in becoming volunteers can contact Cassandra Nicholson on Cassandra.Nicholson@vinnies.org.au or by calling 6923 1912.