UNIVERSITY PLACE — Larry Nelthropp says he must choose whether to help needy families this Christmas or clean up an anonymous cheapskate’s mess.

The 70-year-old co-founder of Operation Hands On — a University Place group that helps families displaced by disasters by giving them clothes and furniture — walked into an unwelcome surprise earlier this week.

Nelthropp found a mound of weathered furniture and appliances that someone dumped late Sunday or early Monday behind his building: moldy couches, old TVs damaged by rain, bags of soaked clothes, even a filthy refrigerator.

He says his group would never give such junk to people it helps, but disposing of it will cost around $1,200. That’s a lot to ask of a group of six senior volunteers who rely on donations to cover their $1,000 monthly rent and utility tab.

Operations Hands On isn’t the only charity that deals with unwanted junk. The problem can cost Tacoma Goodwill Industries more than $100,000 a year, said spokesman Matthew Erlich.

But the timing is especially rotten in University Place. Nelthropp says paying for the mess would mean sacrificing his group’s Christmas party.

He and Christie Bazar, the group’s other co-founder, say whoever left the junk knew Operation Hands On wouldn’t accept the items. Instead, the stuff was dumped when no one could stop it.

“It’s the first time since we have opened that I’ve lost heart,” Bazar said.