The Iola Senior Citizens Thrift Store has found a solution for its disposal of surplus items that will also serve those in need. Dimity Lowell, with the center, spoke with Allen County Commissioners Tuesday morning about a partnership that has been formed with a Texas-based organization.
“I’ve been looking for a place where we can send our extra stuff,” Lowell said. Before Lowell had secured the Dallas-based site the center had been taking excess items to the county landfill.
“This has been a year-long project for me,” she said.
Charity Shoes and Clothing, LLC, contacted Lowell, saying it will provide a trailer to haul items back to Texas.
“They will pay 6 cents per pound and deliver the items to a third world country,” she said. Lowell noted the thrift store will keep the trailer until it is full, or six months have passed.
Charity Shoes and Clothing, LLC, has processed over 1 billion pairs of shoes and garments since 1994 and is labeled as a for-profit textile recycling organization “promoting global responsibility.” Items the organization will accept include clothes, hats, shoes, and toys. “Our trash cans will no longer be full of usable items, which is great,” said Lowell.
Lowell noted a recent effort to help local students.
“We realized that the Iola school district is the only one where nobody provides school supplies,” Lowell said. “So, we bought $6,000 worth of school supplies for 330 students.”
The thrift store will distribute the supplies to the parents of 220 elementary students and 110 middle school students from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday. The parents had responded to social media posts about the center’s offering.
IN OTHER NEWS, Commissioner David Lee thanked the volunteers at this year’s Allen County Fair. “A lot of people went into making the fair successful this year,” he said.
• Public Works Director Mitch Garner gave an update on the new landfill cell. “They are waiting on the final testing of the clay liner,” said Garner. “Hopefully, by the end of the week, we’ll know about the final test.” He added that the landfill has a 2019 compactor that currently has 11,512 hours on it. “When it gets to about 14,000 hours, we’ll need to consider rebuilding that,” he said. “It runs about 10 hours a day, six days a week.” Garner said it could be roughly a year and a half before it will need to be addressed.
• After an executive session, commissioners announced Jeremy Hopkins has been promoted from interim to Road and Bridge Director. Hopkins noted the department’s 2014 John Deere tractor caught fire Thursday evening. “We’re going to go through insurance and let them handle it,” he said. “It was unfortunate because it was a good tractor.” The incident occurred when the driver of the tractor got up against a tree. “When they tried to move it out, it smashed the battery box and shorted out,” he explained. The driver of the tractor is uninjured.
Hopkins clarified that the county owns the tractor and it is not leased. He is requesting the commission consider getting the insurance money and leasing a replacement tractor for the time being.
• Commissioner Bruce Symes gave an update from his recent meeting of the Southeast Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Center. The group is made up of 11 counties, however, Linn County will be leaving the consortium beginning in 2025.
“This leaves 10 counties to pay for the center,” said Symes. “This makes us nervous, but the administration does a really good job of managing the budget.” Symes added that the center recently received a $16,000 grant that will offset almost all of Linn County’s contribution. Allen County contributes a little over $60,000 a year to the center.
