Muswellbrook’s Lifeline coordinator, Annie, said she’s been overwhelmed by people’s generosity.

“Some people are cleaning out and some are just wanting to recycle things they no longer use, but Truck Number Five is on its way to Newcastle full of donations that we physically can’t process here,” she said.

“Our storing area is overflowing and we’re talking everything from clothing, electrical, bric-a-brac, 

furniture, there’s no end; basically anything people have in their home or garage or garden shed they’ve brought in to us.”

Lifeline said its volunteers have been extraordinary during the period.

Annie said she has a couple of ladies specialised in linen, one in books, with a lot of the boys moving furniture around and helping customers move furniture.

They also wash utensils before they are displayed.

“If the volunteers are not processing the donations to go back to Newcastle they’re washing it, cleaning it, pricing it and putting it out on the shelves to sell here,” Annie said.

This year is the first time Lifeline was open over the Christmas and New Year period in Muswellbrook.

“I thought why not,” said Annie, who started at Muswellbrook’s Lifeline store last March.

“We might get a little bit of business and hopefully it will stop dumping, but I did not expect the donations, or the sales, we would have.

“I had a phone call today where a local lady and her business partner are donating us 150 brand new pairs of shoes and you can see in the trolley there’s brand new shoes in those boxes,” Annie told the Hunter Valley News.

Annie said Lifeline couldn’t thank the people enough for the quality of the recycled things they’ve donated.

Any revenue raised goes toward local projects, including the Lifeline service, and suicide prevention at schools and workplaces locally.