Donations are up at Salvation Army, but sales have yet to recover from pre-shutdown levels

The Salvation Army needs the public’s help as its stores reopen.

“The early sales before, they’re not matching where they were before the shutdown. But I wouldn’t expect that to come back instantly, overnight,” said Brian Molohon, Salvation Army director of development.

During the shutdown, all of its stores were closed, which meant the funding they needed for programs just didn’t come in. Item donations, however, were plenty.

“We’ve seen people in the last few weeks bringing a lot of items in the stores to donate," Molohon said. "I think people when they were in shelter-in-place mode simply went through and started cleaning house, and they made their piles and they’re bringing all of that to our stores."

With so many donations, procedures at Salvation Army stores have changed during the pandemic. There’s the expected social distancing and mask requirements inside stores, but they’re also handling donated items differently.

“Nothing in particular that we’ve had to restrict. When items come in, everything is cleaned and sanitized. It’s quarantined, if you will, for a period of time, so we’re following all of the CDC guidelines,” said Molohon.

Without a consistent flow of money, some of the community-based programs are not getting the funding needed.

“We’ve got demand for our services that is basically off the charts, like nothing we’ve seen before,” Molohon said.

The Salvation Army hopes the holidays will bring them more funding they need to catch up for the months they had to close.