Spring is nearly six weeks away, but local thrift shop workers hope spring cleaning will begin sooner. They need the stuff.

The Salvation Army thrift shop at 530 Mission 66 is in need of furniture, household goods, clothing and other items that can be offered for sale or made available through the Army’s voucher program, said Army social worker Jamie Leonard.

To donate

• The Salvation Army thrift shop at 530 Mission 66 needs furniture, housewares, shoes, purses, clothing and any items except toys.

To arrange for items to be picked up, call 601-636-2769.

The thrift shop is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m..

• River City Rescue Mission’s thrift shop, 3705 Washington St., is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. To arrange a pick-up, call 601-636-6602.

• We Care Community Services Variety Store, 1201 Monroe St., 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday and Thursday, 601-638-6327.

She’s urging people to clean out basements, closets and cabinets and get rid of unwanted items. “Feel good that while doing so, you’ve helped someone less fortunate,” she said.

Donations are as low as she’s ever seen them, said manager Theresa Wright, an 11-year veteran at the Vicksburg store.

“We always need pots and pans, towels, blankets, dishes, silverware — the basic necessities — anything you take for granted,” said Wright. “There’s been a big decline in donations, and I’m sure it’s because of the economy.”

River City Rescue Mission’s thrift shop at 3705 Washington St. also is running low on furniture, said director Earnie Hall. “We could use it all,” he said. “We always accept donations — that’s what keeps us going and funds our ministry.”

Hall said a couple of recent sales were successful in moving many goods out of the thrift shop.

We Care Community Services also accepts donations for its thrift store at f Monroe and China streets.

The local Salvation Army thrift shop serves 70 to 80 shoppers every day, Wright said.

Victims of house fires and other disasters also benefit from clothing and household items donated by others. Leonard gives out vouchers for clothing to those with immediate needs and later helps provide replacement kitchen and household  items.

Since the first of the year she’s helped several families burned out of their homes, and “probably 10 people a week” who needed clothes for job interviews, church or “because they’re trying to put their lives back together.”

Close to a dozen cars were in the parking lot Monday, with shoppers inside browsing through clothing racks, book tables and odds and ends.

Just a couple of couches, one dining room table, a desk and a few other furniture items were in stock. “It would really help us to have more furniture,” Leonard said, “for fire victims as well as for people to come in and buy.”

The only items the Salvation Army can’t accept are toys. Leonard said the many toy recalls for safety issues, lead paint and other dangers have led their organization to decline toy donations.

Even ripped, stained and out-of-style clothing can be donated. What can’t be sold on site can be baled and hauled off by truck, netting the Army about $5,000 per load, Leonard said. Baled clothing is either sent to a foreign country where it’s used, sold for rags or recycled into new items.

Money from sales at the Army thrift store is used by the local agency for social services in the Vicksburg-Warren County area, said Leonard.

Proceeds from River City Rescue Mission also stay in the Vicksburg community, helping feed and house homeless veterans and other men in need of shelter and care.

Once spring cleaning is finished, River City Rescue and the Salvation Army have trucks available to pick up donations, especially of heavy, bulky items — which often don’t stay in the shop very long.

Leonard had a call Monday at 9:15 a.m. from a woman who wanted to donate her washer and dryer and needed them picked up. By 2:15 the washer and dryer had come in the back door and were going back out the front, on their way to their new home.

“We definitely have the capacity to sell anything,” Leonard said. “It’s just a matter of getting it.”

Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com