Americans are generous people. We want to give to charities who focus on helping families in need. In 2014, people in the United States gave $358.38 billion to charities. Many people assume that people donate a lot more during the winter holidays but in reality, of people surveyed 43% said they gave more during that season while 44% said they gave “about the same” amount then as they do during the rest of the year. One issue many people face is they do not have a lot of money to give but they want to give back to the community anyway. The good news for them is that there are a lot of ways we can all give back. Donating our used clothing is one such way. This is even easy to do as there are organizations that pick up clothing donations.
You Do a Lot of Good When You Make Used Clothing Donations
- You help people who need clothing. When disaster strikes an area, say after an event such as Super Storm Sandy, Hurricane Katrina or the fires and tornadoes that have hit Texas and the Midwest in recent years, often people escape the situation with nothing but the clothes on their back. In these times, charities and non-profits can use cash as they always can but the clothes are also critical to getting people what they need as quickly as possible.
- You help non-profits pay for their operations. Many charities have consignment shops. When they pick up clothing donations, they take the donations and sell them in their shops. This is a major source of funding for these charity organizations that do really good work. This helps them with their overhead expenses and allows them to continue to help the communities in which they operate.
- You get a clean closet. Most Americans buy a lot of clothing and that is only increasing. The average person in the United States buys double the amount of clothing they bought 20 years ago. That means that many of us have closets full of clothing that we may never plan to wear again. Organizational experts say that people who live in a one or two season region should go through their closet twice a year. If there are clothes that have bot been worn for at least one season, they should get rid of those items.
- You help the environment. When you throw away clothing, it heads straight for the landfill where it can help no one. Keeping these items out of landfills is really important. When they decompose in the landfill, harmful greenhouse gases are emitted that contribute to global warming, Nearly 2.5 billion pounds of used fabrics were prevented from getting to landfills by used clothing donations in 2006. When you donate your used clothing, someone else is helped and the environment is protected. That is a great win-win.
- You improve your company’s reputation. Because you can arrange for a charity to pick up clothing donations, you can arrange a company wide clothing drive at your work. If you work with the management of your employer or your own business, you can take your used clothing drive and make it into a great public relations opportunity for the business. You can put out a press release and take photos to show the good work you and your coworkers are doing for the community.
- You encourage other people to give. People are impacted by what they see other people doing. When you arrange for a charity to pick up clothing donations, other people will see that and be more likely to give their used clothing to charity as well. This means your donation will be multiplied by the number of people who are inspired to give from watching you do the same.
When you call and arrange for a non-profit to pick up clothing donations, there are some things you can do to help the receiving organization handle your items. First, you should clean all of them before you take them in. The next thing is to sort it all by kind of item. This will make a big difference for the staff who are tasked with taking in and inventorying the donations they receive.
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