The Ballard Goodwill donation center at 1145 NW Market St was looted when after-hours donations piled up at the unattended site earlier this week.
The donation center, which opened last July, was closed for the day due to unhealthy air quality. Goodwill spokesperson Micha Goebig tells My Ballard that they shut down several donation-only sites earlier this week because of the smoke.
“We understand the frustration of donors when sites are closed, but given the air quality, we made the sensible decision to close donation-only sites to protect the employees and donors,” she said.
They announced the closure on the website, social media, and in texts to subscribers, but she says people continued to drop off items.
“Unfortunately, a number of people decided to leave their donations at the closed station, despite signs that explicitly forbid dumping after hours, and later, other people ransacked these,” Goebig said, adding that the donation site at the Ballard Goodwill store on 8th Ave NW was open that day as an alternative option.
“There was no damage to any of our property, but for obvious reasons, everything left on the site had to be tossed instead of going back into our stores and the community,” she said. “We hope the incident shows the negative effects of dumping after hours, which hurts not only Evergreen Goodwill but also the community around it and people who rely on our resale operations.”
Goebig said overnight security guards are now monitoring the site.
The incident comes days after My Ballard reported that the Ballard Goodwill could turn into a 300-unit apartment building.