MOI Thrift Store changes some donation exceptions

Though they are thankful and will gladly take many smaller items, Malta Opportunity Inc. will no longer be accepting larger donations at their Malta thrift store including mattresses, box springs or other large, household appliances.

"We love how generous people are with their donations to MOI," Dina Sainato-Meneely, MOI Executive Director said. "But the bigger stuff is really hard for us to handle and there are also some safety and cleanliness issues with taking mattresses."

Sainato-Meneely said that MOI also has trouble being able to tell if the large appliances donated work properly, and they are a tough sell for the thrift store, so they have decided they will no longer accept such items. People looking to rid themselves of the large appliances are encouraged to contact Shores Salvage. Shores Salvage - located near CHS Big Sky in Malta - accepts many items that are too big for MOI to handle, including washers, dryers, refrigerators, hot water heaters, furnaces, stoves and basically, anything made of metal.

At MOI, the organization happily accepts small appliances - mixers, radios and the like - as well as books, toys, games, puzzles, which are in good working order and in good shape, the thrift store has great success in selling those items and keeping them out of the City of Malta's Landfill.

"We can get people receipts for their donations to use for tax purposes because we are 501 (nonprofit)," Sainato-Meneely said. "And then all the money spent at the MOI thrift shop stays in MOI to be able to support our clients."

After items are donated at MOI, the MOI clients take the items, check them to make sure they are usable and if they are, they are stocked on the store's shelves for sale. The list of items sold on site are numerous and as for clothing and other fabric items (sheets, blankets, curtains etc...) if they are reusable, they are washed and stocked in the store and if not, they are also washed but then repurposed.

"We take the donated material and our clients cut them into rags and then we sell those rags," Sainato-Meneely said. "Both plain white rags and colored rags, they are one-foot square rags so if you need some for your shop or home, we sell them by the garbage bag full."

Currently, MOI has 17 clients and provides employment services to them including working in the thrift shop, collecting cardboard, and laundry services. Sainato-Meneely said MOI clients currently do laundry for the Hi-Line Retirement Center and Phillips County Hospital and Family Health Clinic.

"We do laundry for private folks too," Sainato-Meneely added. "For a couple of bucks a load, we will wash it, dry it and fold it."

Aside from working at the MOI campus at the South 3rd Street location, the MOI clients are also encouraged to work at outside jobs in the community and do so at about a half a dozen businesses around Malta including the Malta Cemetery where Jack "The Old Coyote" Stenswick works on a part-time basis and at Albertsons where Bobby Cole can often be seen maintaining the store's entryway.

MOI hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. For questions about donations, laundry service or any other services at MOI, people are encouraged to call them at 654-2582 and thrift store customers and people looking to make donations to MOI are asked to shop and donate during those regular operating hours.

"If you make your donations during our business hours, we can make sure you get receipts for your taxes," Sainato-Meneely added. She said the community members should be on the lookout for upcoming parking lot sales in MOI in August because they recently secured grant money for the remodeling of their building and will be looking to liquidate some of the items currently on hand.

"That will probably happen in the spring and to help us kind of get through all of our inventory, we will be looking to hopefully have some parking lot sales," Sainato-Meneely said.