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A splash of blue will add a breath of fresh air to Asthma Foundation Queensland’s seven Op Shops over the coming 12 months.   The Foundation’s new brand was established recently to connect all asthma foundations in Australia and increase awareness of asthma in the community.   Blue is synonymous with clean air and is very optimistic. The branding represents the key concepts of healthy lung function, childhood, optimism and freedom from the constraints of asthma.  The Foundation’s seven Op Shops operate to raise much needed funds to help Queenslanders breathe better. They are located at: Annerley, Sandgate, Goodna, Wynnum, Hillcrest,  Zillmere and Mitchelton.  For more information about Asthma Foundation Queensland, contact our team on 1800 645 130 or visit www.asthmafoundation.org.au.

The Salvos opened a bigger store in Fairfield due to increased patronage in the area.  Salvos Stores General Manager, Neville Barrett believes the increasing cost of essential services are driving a range of  demographics to shop at the store.  View the article at this link.

An electrical fault is now being blamed for a fire at the Salvation Army thrift shop at Elizabeth East in Adelaide's north.The fire was originally thought to have been deliberately lit after a number of vandal attacks on the store during the past few months. The ABC's coverage can be found at this link.

For charitable recyclers, the end of Christmas is marked by dumping and 2011 was a bumper with the public in all states abusing our valuable services. Very clearly the unintended consequence of increased landfill charges, dumping this year was unprecedented in all states.  A short summary of actions in various states is below. Today Tonight covered dumping - "Charity plea" that can be found at this link. The issue received unprecedented news coverage in newspapers and on television, particularly in Victoria. Donald Munroe-Sustainability Manager at Salvos Stores, valiantly answered many media enquiries. His interview with MTR137 can be heard at this link. Disturbingly, the overall reaction by councils is to ban the donation bins. Summed up by Kurt Russell-Lifeline Mid North Coast Business Manager who said that "Removing charity bins will have a drastic effect on our revenue raising opportunities. The fact that a small percentage of the community willingly dump on us, by placing unsaleable larger items around our bins, is not the fault of the charities or the bins."

A willingness by various governments and councils  to address the problem of dumping has been patchy to say the least. In the ACT, Chief Minister Katy Gallagher announced that she will work with the seven registered charities that operate collection bins to discuss the existing recycling system. A round of meetings will be held with individual charities to work through ideas before another group meeting in March. The Ministers media release can be found at this link.

Minister Ryan Smith of Victoria was moved to release a Media statement (found at this link) in which he committed to assigning the "combined resources of the EPA, DSE and SV to come up with potential solutions to dumping".

Anger over the dumping of rubbish at charity collection bins in Canberra has spawned an anti-dumping website to show the impact on charities.  Canberra woman Sylvia became so incensed at the misuse of the collection bins that she has set up the website to highlight the problem. ABC coverage can be found at this link. The website "This is not charity" can be found at this address: www.thisisnotcharity.net

Lifeline opened its first furniture-only business with a new retail shed in Warrnambool. The on-line article can be found at this link