Goodwill stores always welcome generous donations but it goes without saying that explosives should never make it into the donation box. Goodwill Northern New England in Falmouth, Maine, was evacuated after an individual dropped off a grenade at the store.
The staff members emptied out the store and notified the police of the finding. Officer later informed them that the grenade was not live and had been deactivated.
Grenade drop-offs are rare but this isn’t the first time that an explosive was found in the store. Regardless of whether they are live or not, Goodwill advises people not to drop them off as donations.
“We have old antique items in our homes, in our barns that we might want to donate, but just give it an extra glance before you do, because it can be really scary for our employees,” said spokesperson Heather Steeves.
“I don’t think this was purposeful or anyone trying to be harmful in Maine. We just have a lot of old stuff. So I think someone probably accidentally donated their grandpa’s old deactivated grenade for some reason. So yeah, no reason to think it was malice.”
The police took the grenade to dispose it properly and the store has reopened for normal business operations. For the staff members’ sanity, leave the unwanted grenades at home. We don’t want grandpa’s decades old treasure to give the workers a heart attack.
Source: https://www.wmtw.com/article/donated-grenade-forces-evacuation-falmouth-maine-goodwill/44375895#