lukensophie
Senior Community Member
On Wednesday mornings, the kids and I run to a nearby grocery store to pick up donated food items and drop them off at one of our homeless shelters. This morning, as I was pulling in to the gated area behind the shelter to access the kitchen, I noticed a lady dropping off some items to donate, including three car seats. As I unloaded the car, I debated in my mind how to approach the situation.
As I was leaving, the lady making the donation was gone, but I pulled over to talk to the donations attendant. I asked him if they have a policy about car seat donations (I was guessing "no") and if I could have a look at the seats. I explained to him that I'm a tech, which got a raised eyebrow, and we looked over the seats together. Sure enough all three were expired. There were two CarGos and one Dorel combo seat of some kind. All three were actually in decent shape, I've seen much worse. I explained how car seats expire and that while I'm sure there are people at the shelter who are in need of car seats, these seats were not what they need. I convinced him to toss them in the dumpster (I don't know if he did, he said he would). When we got home this morning, I called my contact at the shelter and left her a message. She knows I'm a tech and I'm going to talk to her about the seats and how to approach future "donations."
As I was leaving, the lady making the donation was gone, but I pulled over to talk to the donations attendant. I asked him if they have a policy about car seat donations (I was guessing "no") and if I could have a look at the seats. I explained to him that I'm a tech, which got a raised eyebrow, and we looked over the seats together. Sure enough all three were expired. There were two CarGos and one Dorel combo seat of some kind. All three were actually in decent shape, I've seen much worse. I explained how car seats expire and that while I'm sure there are people at the shelter who are in need of car seats, these seats were not what they need. I convinced him to toss them in the dumpster (I don't know if he did, he said he would). When we got home this morning, I called my contact at the shelter and left her a message. She knows I'm a tech and I'm going to talk to her about the seats and how to approach future "donations."