Mid West Ports Authority assists Midwest Disaster Relief with shelving to accommodate donations

A local charity launched the opening of a new storage area for donated goods to be stored safely and conveniently, after building 44m of new shelving.

The Mid West Ports Authority donated the shelving to provide adequate storage solutions for the charity Mid West Disaster Relief. The project added an extra 44m of shelving with 20 shelves at 1.5m-high for displaying items in store, shelving to store donated goods, separate shelving for cleaned items and more for the presentation of items.

Mid West Disaster Relief provides donated furniture to the community in crisis or those who suffer from financial hardship. Volunteers collect, sort, clean, restore and repair items before distribution or sale.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a surge of donated goods, and despite a large storage area, items weren’t able to be put away immediately and sometimes left in the weather.

Mid West Disaster Relief administrator Olivia Winston said the shelving project was designed to build a custom, safe storage system for items to be stored.

“This will enable us to create easy systems for storing and locating items as needed and create a more efficient environment for staff and volunteers to receive, store and move items from our donors to those we are helping in the community,” she said.