Open letter
Green Bank’s donation station
It is known by many names, the stage, Goodwill box, donation box and probably more. What it is though, is a community treasure. History from Tom Sharp tells me that it started as a 6-foot-tall recycling box for glass. Later as we stopped recycling the glass it was shortened, and its charitable life began. The tall stairs were cut into 3 pieces, 1 used to access the now shorter stage, 1 to get into the shelter the employees use during inclement weather and the final to get into a storage shed on the property.
However, that is just the beginning of this box’s useful life. While the box began as a recycling spot for glass, it is now a community effort to help each other. We all have things we no longer use but still have useful life. There are commercial industries built on this fact. Yet, in Green Bank, we donate these items freely to the donation station, and, sometimes we also receive from this donation station.
Just this week, someone donated several leather coats. I looked and did not see what I wanted. Another local looked and did, but did not want the lining. Great, I have a coat that needs a lining, and this will work. Two people got the use of one donation. 2 months ago, I found a leather vest from a Vietnam Veteran that had died and the family donated the vest. It belonged to my friend and fellow Honor Guard member Homer Hunter. I returned it to VVA, and it has been forwarded to a friend of Homers who is also a VV member. Another local told me that she had donated several unique pairs of pants from her mother after she died, and that every time she saw them around town, she thought of her for a long time with a smile. There are more stories. They are all in danger of disappearing!
The solid waste district wants to remove this cost-free treasure. I have heard rumors about why, but no definitive answers. This Donation Station Box helps locals in several ways, it shares stories, it saves money, it helps the needy, and it reduces refuse to an already overburdened landfill.
I do not know all the Pocahontas County sites and if this exists at all of them. I hear it does at some of them. Maybe they have a problem. If so, address that problem. Please do not remove a local treasure.
It would diminish the community.
Thank you.
Benjamin Lukacek
Green Bank, WV
