Social Justice Group

Wanting to donate furniture, whitegoods and household items?

If you are downsizing, moving or just spring cleaning and have furniture and other household items which are surplus to your needs, the Rotary Inner Melbourne Relief Network (RIMERN) or the Eastern Emergency Relief Network (EERN) provide a very worthwhile way to donate these goods.

The St Vincent de Paul Society no longer accepts donations of household furniture (after finding it cheaper to supply new furniture compared to the cost of collection, warehouse storage, delivery, salaries and Workcover insurance for warehouse staff), but RIMERN (if you live in the City of Boroondara) or EERN (if you live in the City of Whitehorse) provide a convenient alternative as both accept household furniture, whitegoods, a range of household electrical items and utensils you wish to donate (subject to certain conditions).

RIMERN and EERN are a multi-club Rotary project operating in inner Melbourne (RIMERN) and the eastern suburb (EERN) which provide furniture, appliances and homewares to welfare agency clients who have experienced homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration, refugee displacement and other crises.

A number of the Parish’s St Vincent de Paul Conferences are welfare partners of these two Rotary projects and use RIMERN and EERN to furnish homes of people who seek the Society’s assistance in times of acute need.

Conditions under which donations of furniture will be accepted by RIMERN and EERN include:

• All donations must be in very good to excellent condition, wanted items, safe and suitable for smaller homes and units as most of clients are in social housing.
• Mattresses must not have any stains.
• Antique style items, frilled or patterned sofas or ‘grandma’s decor’ will not be accepted as they cannot be ‘rehomed’.

Download the list of items that RIMERN CAN & CANNOT accept.

The final decision as to whether donated items will be accepted is at the discretion of RIMERN and EERN’s drivers and crew at the time of pick-up or the Warehouse Coordinator if the items are delivered directly to the warehouses.

Arrangements to have your donated items collected by RIMERN and EERN volunteers can be made:

• for RIMERN, by emailing photos and the name of your suburb to [email protected] and include your name, address, phone number, date they must be removed by (if applicable), list of items and photos and
• for EERN, by contacting the EERN warehouse on 9874 8433 during business hours or by email [email protected] to arrange a time for collection. This is preferred so EERN can assess if the items suit EERN’s needs.

More information about:

• RIMERN can be found at: https://www.rimern.org.au/ and
• EERN can be found at: https://easternemergency.org.au/

By Social Justice Group