Brookhaven Outreach Ministries is once again asking people whodonate clothing and furniture to only give what is still usable andto deliver the items during office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.,Monday through Friday.

“When people leave things in the off hours, people go throughthings and scatter them, and they get rained on, and they’re no useto anybody,” said the Rev. Jerry Durr, president of the charitableorganization.

Durr indicated the problem is particularly bad duringweekends.

“Then when we come in on Monday, we’ve got to do a big cleanupfrom the mess that was made over the weekend,” he said.

Durr said it costs an average of $250-$300 a month to have thebroken furniture and soiled mattresses taken to the dump. InSeptember 2006, the ministry paid $493.86 in addition to itsdumpster fee and garbage collection fee to have the city take awayunusable and damaged goods abandoned on its property.

People who want to give to the ministry can call if they cannotget there during office hours, and pickup will be arranged withinthe city limits. To arrange after-hours pickup, call the BrookhavenOutreach Ministries at (601) 833-1350.

“We’re not deterring givers. We are grateful for anyone whowants to help, but we need people not to abuse the system,” saidDurr. “We’d like people to bypass us and go straight to the dump iftheir stuff is unsalvageable so the burden won’t be on theministry.”