On March 19, Goodwill and Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS) worked together to offer an emergency donation drive for several of our homeless shelter clients that were being rapidly housed in response to the coronavirus.
A press release was issued on Friday, March 20 and The Des Moines Register ran the article in several of the social media platforms, as well as an article that Saturday.
We had a great response. All materials gathered on the 20, 21 and 22 of March were quarantined for the recommended 72 hours.
That week, Goodwill made the difficult decision to close all drop off locations. Also, that week, The Des Moines Register made the mistake of including the article about our emergency donation drive in all of the community papers making it look like the drive would be happening on Match 27, 28 and 29.
With Goodwill closed, there is no place big enough to quarantine donations. CISS is not set up for taking that quantity of donations even in the best of times.
In the past few days, CISS and the Des Moines Register have fielded calls from people wishing they had some place to take their donations. We understand everyone’s frustrations, and, we ask for patience. When we can take donations again, either here or through Goodwill, we will let the public know.
