Goodwill Girds for Black Saturday Rush of Donations at County Dropoff Points

If the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday for shoppers, what is the busiest day for donors?

Sharon Corrigan of Goodwill Industries of San Diego County says the day before new year’s is “by far the biggest” for her nonprofit.  Call it Black Saturday.

Rosecrans, Mira Mesa and La Costa are the busiest of Goodwill’s 30 collection points in the county, she said.

“They’re collecting an amazing amount of stuff,” she said Friday in a phone interview.

Dozens of bags were piled for sorting and shipping Friday afternoon at Goodwill’s Amaya Drive collection point at Amaya Court, where Papa Gakou and Ross Hunter helped fill blue bins, sort donations (75 percent of it clothes) and issue receipts.

Gakou, a 44-year-old West Africa native who lives in Spring Valley, and Hunter are among basically all Goodwill donor center and transportation employees working this weekend.

“That’s one of the things they find out before they come to work for us,” Corrigan said. “No time off” for the day before New Year’s Day.

A pair of 24-foot Goodwill trucks awaited loading Friday afternoon—on one of 362 days a year donations are accepted. The only days off: Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving, Corrigan said.

Everything that’s donated is looked at individually, with most items going to the nearest Goodwill store. Items that are ripped, torn, stained, broken or have pieces missing “go to what we call ‘as is,’ and that’s down in San Ysidro,” she said.

Auctions are held there, outlets mark down the prices, and people even bid on bins.

“It’s an amazing process,” Corrigan said.

Her advice for donors on Black Saturday?

“Get there as early as possible,” she said, with most collection centers opening at 8:30 a.m. They generally close at 5:30 p.m.

The workers are so busy the last day of the tax year, she said, “They don’t get a chance to even breathe.”