The second flood -- unsorted clothing piling up in the Gulf area

[preciousdove]

Channel surfing overnight between MSNBC and CNN and they were doing a report on the staggering amount of clothing already there and arriving daily. They have no place to put it, no place to sort it and right now it is not in demand.

They showed three girls (about 5th grade I imagine) in one church trying to sort it according to mens, womens and childrens but it was piled high in boxes and bags all over in and around the church.

We were warned. More than one interviewee said that because there is no place to store it it may be left out in the open and eventually just be sent straight to the landfills. The cost of relocating the clothing to other areas is undoable and manpower is being used for more important tasks.

:shrug:

[skids]

1. It was inevitable, for two reasons...

One is that some people don't have cash to give. So they sent what they had.

The other is that fraud, dishonesty, and misuse of cash charity contributions (or for that matter in society at large) has made the public reluctant to trust organizations with cash donations. That's just the toll that this type of activity exacts. The real ones to blame are those that perpetrated scams.

They should just hang on to it for now and when NOLA residents have closets to put it in, hand it out then.

[shraby]

2. That happens every time there is a disaster

in this country. It's amazing the amount of clothing that shows up.

[Maple]

4. It happened in the Asian tsunami too

They got tons of the stuff...evening gowns, winter coats, wool outfits, bathing suits, high heels...all useless.

Every disaster in the world has this happen...yet what they always need are basics like food and water and shelter...

That's why there should be only ONE agency in charge of relief efforts, not every country doing a separate one, and people should only send money.

One lowly quarter is more useful than a ton of evening gowns.

[gauguin57]

5. Aw, I dunno. Some of those evening gowns may come in handy

in the French Quarter, once things get back up and running!

[Maple]

6. LOL well they didn't in Muslim Indonesia

or in the Mexico City earthquake years and years ago when I first noticed this massive evening gown disposal method. :7

[mestup]

3. That report bothered me for some reason.

Made me think about off-shore sweatshops and the massive (female-oriented) retail advertising pressure to always have a "new outfit."

Can't put my finger on it, but it almost felt like an "ugly American" piece. It was like the yard sale you slow down for, but then drive on by. Clothes.

They needed food. They needed water. They need homes. They need jobs.

But Americans reached deeply into their closets and got rid of last year's fashions.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe for some people, that's all they had to give.

[expatriate]

7. I think in some cases it is all people have to give

but in other cases, it's a nice way to get rid of all the stuff that you've been reluctant to throw away.

The Salvation Army used to get so inundated by old clothes that they now sell a lot of them to companies that make cleaning rags - what they don't sell back to the public through their retail stores. There was never that much demand for poor people to have clothing donations. I've spent some time in Salvo shelters, and helped with the intake of donated goods - ye gods, the clothes! Stuff people in need could never really use. Rotted out blue jeans, manky underwear, evening gowns, ancient worn out crap. So many of the donated items were simply not wearable at all and many others would only have been good for a costume or special occasion.

Money is really the best donation, but it's understandable that it's not always possible. But the clothes deluge is always a problem after disasters like Katrina and the tsunami. Lots of it just has to be junked. Even a donation of time for a local chapter of a charity is of more help than sending old evening gowns!