By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Goodwill calls it “pent-up demand,” with both donations and shoppers returning to the charity’s retail stores. Land of Lincoln Goodwill spokesman Pat Anderson says it’s starting to look like normal.

“We’ve been inundated with donations, so we are almost back to where we were,” said Anderson. “We did have a lot of people just dump items at our stores while we were closed, and we had put a stop to that, because we can’t take care of those items when they are outside.”

And some of the items are simply unusable and sent to salvage. While Anderson characterizes the retail operation as getting back to normal, the bottom line is another story. He says the months out of business significantly hit the organizations finances, ninety percent of which come from the resale shops.

The central Illinois region operates fifteen shops and donation centers.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].