Do you donate your used clothing?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

I find myself appalled...

I just read a thread that was requesting items for relief, and it specifically said "do not send old clothes."

Now I have a bag of used things that either don't fit or are simply not worn by any of us, and I had planned to send them to victims of the storm. None of this is cheap crap clothing. There might be a little wear in the knees of some of the boys' pants, but they aren't threadbare...not even as worn as the new jeans that somebody might pay $50+ for.

I don't have money for new things...not for myself or anyone else. But when I asked what was wrong with old clothes on that thread, I was told to "go away" and that "old clothes belong at the dump."

Is this attitude a product of our throw-away society? If so, I really am concerned about our future.

[enigmatic]

1. all the time

We make a habit of donating regularly to local foodbanks and charities that accept used clothing and appliances; anybody (or any charity) who says shit like that are idiots..

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I often go to thrift stores and find better quality stuff than

the new things in the retail stores...for much less money.

[enigmatic]

6. yep

We shop all the time at thrift stores; we have an incredible bunch here in Edmonton that has a fantastic selection of stuff..

[eleny]

2. Yes, I always do

They're never raggedy and are always cleaned first.

If my clothes were in very good shape, I'd wash, press, fold and bag them to donate. Maybe they mean old as in very old, lost their shape and a little stained. If they look good, what the heck.

I have some that are perfect but worn only a few times. I was planning on getting them ready to donate.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. I'm hoping I can donate them directly to victims...

Some of them were expensive things my mom bought. I'd like to know that they're going to be worn by someone who needs them rather than sold at Salvation Army.

[eleny]

5. So am I

Families arrived here this weekend and I'm going to inquire tomorrow if they have a clothing room where they're staying. I can also donate some craft supplies for the kids.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. Great idea!

Craft supplies...

These kids are going to need creative outlets to express their feelings...

[In_The_Wind]

7. I donate clean usable clothing.

If it has holes or is stained, I throw it away instead of donating it!


plus ... I shop at second hand clothing stores

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. A couple of years ago

I'd just finished playing a gig, and was on my way to the car, when I looked up to see a lunar eclipse...

There were some men hanging around near my parking spot doing the same thing. I chatted with them a bit, then went to put my fiddle in the back of the car. I suddenly became aware that these guys were all homeless (a couple of blocks from the White House, no less), and I was horrified, because it was quite cold outside.

I didn't have any spare change, but I had an old dirty blanket in the back of my car. I felt terrible about giving it to them without washing it first; but I figured it was an emergency. So I handed it to one of them with my apologies. He thanked me, and called to another man, who was asleep on the steps of a church.

As I started my car, wishing I'd had something nicer to offer, this old guy came running up to my car, knocked on the window, and said, "Oh thank you ma'am! Thank you!" grinning a huge half-toothless smile as he held up that dusty blanket.

So now I keep a clean blanket in the back of my car at all times.

[In_The_Wind]

33. may your kindness be returned to you many times over

:yourock:

[jmm]

8. It must be difficult coordinating all of the necessary aid

I haven't seen the thread you are referring to but I can understand why some groups may want to limit their focus on items other than clothing. However I do feel saying used clothes belong at a dump is uncalled for. If you want them to go directly to hurricane victims then perhaps you should look out and see if any will be housed in your area soon then contact the agencies helping them.

This is a bit off topic but I wish people would be more careful when donating things such as clothing. My brother lives near a Salvation Army and I have sat at his place at night and watched people raid the donation bin. They have big signs warning people not to donate during certain hours because of frequent theft and they can't guarantee anyone will watch the area but they still constantly do. Taking that little bit of time to do things such as washing clothes first or dropping them off at an appropriate time can make a big difference.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Limiting focus is understandable.

And I can understand not wanting to accept dirty things...and in certain cases new sheets, since the temp shelters don't want a louse problem.

[maveric]

9. I bag them and leave them on the sidewalk,front of my complex.

Many homeless walk my street due to the many apartment complexes and dumpsters. Aluminim miners as they call themselves.
You leave it out and it will be gone in an hour. I cut out the middle man.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. When I lived in Baltimore, there was an old homeless woman who

hung out in my neighborhood. She was living on her SS check, and didn't have a coat. I'd had friends pass along clothes to me so that I found myself with three of them.

I tried to give her one, but she wouldn't take it. We had a terribly cold winter that year, with subzero temps for a good part of January. I stopped seeing her sometime in the middle of the cold snap.

My hope was that family members caught up with her and managed to find a warm place for her to stay.

[Beware the Beast Man]

12. There may be a reason for this.

The apartment bldg. across the street from where I used to live burned to the ground. While all the tenants survived, they lost evgerything. The community, from what I gather, donated so much old clothing that fundraisers requested that it stop.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. That's beautiful...

I have a feeling, though, that they're going to have a tough time giving everybody from this disaster the relief they need with new items only...

[RebelOne]

16. Call the American Kidney Fund.

I always donate old clothes to them. They will come and pick up.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. I always, ALWAYS, donate used clothing.

My son and daughter are in them for just a short time. Most of what I wear is rags by the time I am done with it, but the kids clothes always go either to a friend for their children, or to Purple Heart. I tried the Mom to Mom sales, but it just wasn't worth it, and I would rather help somebody out.

I know what you mean though. Even at the one Mom to Mom sale, women didn't want clothing that wasn't a "name" or didn't look brand new. It's really quite sad. :(

[LosinIt]

18. funny you should ask, we hauled out clothes that had 'shrunk'

as we like to put it. And since we live in apple country I thought I could find a church or community center that would have a clothes closet for the unemployed or the hard working migrant workers since there were some almost new jeans, some lined jeans and corduroys and some flannels shirts of my husbands. Well, the only place that I knew of had closed, so my son said, just drop them off at any church, Mom.

This sent me off on one of my rants on how I wasn't going to do that so that they would put them in a rummage sale and charge these same people in need so that a minister could be provided with room and board so that he could work one morning a week and visit sick people the rest of it.

This may seem jaded, but that is how I feel especially lately when these lily-white churches here in Northern New York would rather talk Christianity than offer to sponsor a displaced black family from New Orleans. Sure the urban churches in Rochester and Syracuse will but not in the rural or suburban areas. It makes me sick.

We finally did find the last remaining clothes closet in the area, thanks to my son's pediatrician's office. All of the other ones in the area have closed and now they sell the clothes at rummage sales to benefit the 'parish', read the minister.

[Bridget Burke]

19. I'm on Purple Heart;'s "list"

They drop by for a bag or two of castoffs every few months. I give them clean clothes in decent shape. (Often, too small a shape for me!) A button or two might be needed--but no rips & tears.

But my "gifts" are often sweaters, dresses & other stuff not suitable for evacuees.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. Sweaters may soon be needed for evacuues who are sent to

Northern states. It can snow in October in Minnesota.

[JimmyJazz]

20. Check with a local church. They will probably take the clothing

and sort through it and be able to give it to the victims of hurricane relief. Also, I believe Kohl's is collecting clothing. At some point, those items will be needed, I'm sure. Like you, I have sorted through my kids' clothes and have a lot of things in perfectly good shape that someone can put to good use.

Anyway, back to the churches - they will take the clothing because they have the manpower (well, usually little old lady power) to sort things and they will also be sending groups in to help with the clean up and will take those kinds of things with them.

It's the "professional" charities that request new items only.

No matter what you may think of the church in general, in times like these, they really are very good about coming through for the victims of these tragedies.

[Midlodemocrat]

21. I always donate my old clothing, especially the kids' clothes, there

might be a reason for this, though, bear with me.

I have run some charity drives where people were willing to donate old things and we have rejected them, mainly because depending on the people whom you are donating to, they need to feel as though they are important and loved, so new things carry a bit more penache, so to speak.

I think people who have lost everything, as the evacuees have, deserve a new start with new things.

[ET Awful]

22. You can always donate old clothes to Good Will, local churches,

and other local charities (most thrift stores are run by charities and accept donations as well).

[progmom]

23. always

We have friends who make yearly humanitarian visits to Haiti - they take bags and bags and bags of clothes.

We also give to Purple Heart and Salvation Army.

[ucmike]

24. i did a job at sal. army and got a lesson in donated clothes

most of them are crap. people use it as a way to get rid or their trash while feeling good about themselves. a lot of what i saw in their warehouse was cheap trashy underwear,(kinky stuff, too) worn out clothing and rags. they sorted through it all, took the good stuff, then bundled the rest for sale to a rag/recycling company.

it cost so much for them to process the donations, seperate it, wash it, package it and send it out to local centers that it barely makes sense for them to do it. the only reason this facility was able to operate was because the labor was rehab folks who lived there as part of court ordered drug/alcohol programs. they also had several local thrift outlets where the stuff could be sold with minimal trucking/handling. if they weren't local they couldn't have trucked it economically.

another thing that happens is that people donate in those roadside collection boxes, thinking htey are helping. but many of those boxes are not managed by charities. they are run by private companies who sell the clothing in foreign countries or sell it for rags/recycling then make a donation to a charity-after profits.

[SW FL Dem]

25. All the time!

I only donate the stuff in good condition (i.e., clothes I would wear in public if they fit or were flattering to me). I used to donate to Goodwill but lately have been using Freecycle since then I get to meet the people who want and use my stuff.

[mcar]

26. I always donate my used clothing

to local thrift shops. I take my kid's clothes to the local consignment shop -- I frequently buy him things there too.

If the old clothes are stained and torn up, yes they belong at the dump. But yours aren't like that. Shame on the poster. The victims of Katrina need clothes and shoes. If I were in that situation, I'd never turn away decent clothing.

[KyndCulture]

27. I always donate my old clothes.

When my kids were little, shoot those little outfits maybe got worn once or twice. They were perfectly good. I always found a church or goodwill or other such place that took good clothing.

I try to recycle everything, we shop yard sales to buy furniture so we don't have to buy new stuff. This throw-away, landfill society is an outrage. There are so many good things that people toss.

Old clothes, belong with someone who needs them PERIOD. Check your phonebook for a Disable Vets of America or other charity that takes old clothes. The DVA will even come by your house and pick them up if there's a bunch of them.

[scarlet_owl]

28. I give them to Goodwill, and then I shop at the Goodwill.

[Left Is Write]

29. Yes, I do. I donate clean used clothing in good repair.

In fact, yesterday, I boxed up some items to send to my friend in Texas for hurricane victims: clean, well-cared for, gently used baby and toddler items with tons of wear left in them.

[blondeatlast]

30. I think it's pragmatics--laundry facilities being the most important.

The sheer volume of victims need clothing now and the agencies haven't got the time to launder the clothes properly.

[skygazer]

31. I donate my old clothing

I throw out anything that's in poor condition but otherwise it's donated. When my kids were younger, I gave their castoffs to a friend who travels to the Philippines several times a year - he would distribute it to street children and poor families. He once sent me a photo (wish I knew where it is - I'd post it) of a beautiful little boy wearing one of my son's favorite shirts (maybe my son has it).

When I was 19, single, pregnant and working at a greyhound track, there was a lovely man who was a track official. He had several grown daughters and every now and then, he'd take me aside and say, "Now, I don't want to offend you but my wife and daughters had some clothes that they no longer wear and I wondered if you could use them."

He was so kind and tactful - knew I was quite independent and determined to stand on my own two feet but I never felt condescended to by him and accepted gratefully. They were nice clothes but more than that, it was a nice gesture.

I will pass on that goodness for the rest of my life.

[bikebloke]

32. I wear them until they're nearly rags.

That includes stitching and sewing patches, if necessary. Then they become bicycle repair and spectacle rags.

[annonymous]

34. Yes and I shop at thrift stores too.

I have been guilty of donating a few marginal pieces of clothing to charities, i.e. something stained or a bit out of style just to get rid of it. Most of the stuff I donate is children's clothes since they outgrow it so fast. Most clothing I buy for my kids comes from thrift shops so I feel I am recycling their clothes.

[Left_Winger]

35. Yes

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

36. We regularly donate used clothing

To veterans' associations and animal rescue.

[tigereye]

37. yes and yes

there are really nice used clothes that I get for my son at thrift stores, and I always give the nice new and recycled clothes and shoes he has outgrown to my neighbor or other folks with kids. And then I donate the rest to Goodwill. I think the folks from NO would be glad to just have clean clothes, new or used, given what they have been through.

[Lilyhoney]

38. I buy all of my clothing at the thrift stores.

I donate all of my unwanted clothes to a local charity that calls me monthy for a donation.

People that waste resources make me ill.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

40. Yes, I donate them twice a year at "closet switching" time

(I keep my off-season clothes in the bedroom that serves as my office.)

Occasionally I donate them to a specific appeal, as when hurricanes in Central America led to a call for used summer clothes, or when there were floods in Oregon a few years ago.

[flamingyouth]

41. Yes, I always do.

In fact, yesterday I picked some pretty decent (but seldom worn) things out of my closet and donated them to a clothing drive for the evacuees. Apparently about 2,000 people or so are coming to Washington in the next few days.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

42. Yes, but not to institutions. Family, acquaintances, coworkers...

There's always somebody around who can use the kids' clothes when they grow out of them.

Now, adult clothes tend to have a loooooooooooooong wardrobe life at Dirtbag Manor. When stop using them, they're pretty much useless. Besides, there's very few people my size around.