Where do you donate your stuff?

[labdogs42]

I'm following along on the decluttering thread and I'm tryign to get new ideas ofor places I can donate my stuff. The only place I usually take stuff is to the Salvation Army, but I'm guessing that there are other worthy causes out there that I'm not even thinking about. I also take books to a used book store or a local chapter of the AAUW for their book sale. So, I'm looking for ideas for other places to donate used household goods, toys, and clothing. Maybe somethign I havent' thought about. I like to spread the wealth and get the stuff to where it can be used. My Salvation Army always seems to have a PILE of stuff to sort through and sometimes I feel like my stuff is more of a burden than a blessing!

 

[TifffanyD]

We donated a couch and microwave to a women's resource center. Found it by asking Lazyboy if they knew what we could do with our old couch and they gave me the number.

 

[Brer Shay]

Depending on what the item is, you might try a local women's shelter. We have one in our area for women/children who are fleeing abuse. Items that allow them set up a new household are helpful. Baby items, I usually take to a crisis pregnancy center.

 

[scrapquitler]

Local Women's shelter or homeless shelter.

How about a church rummage sale?

 

[NVDisMom]

Goodwill gets most of our outgrown clothing and unneeded toys and housewares. They have a donation center at the bottom of my hill, seven minutes away. Big Brothers and Big Sisters will get the occasional bag of items that has been sitting in my car for far too long. They have drop off boxes all around town, making it easy to go "oh yeah, I need to get that out of my car!". Salvation Army gets anything that is large because they do monthly pick ups in the neighborhood. Books go to our PTA, they do sales and exchanges throughout the year.

 

[Colleen27]

We have a local organization that collects clothing, kid gear, household items, etc. and arranges them into an almost department store like setup that they open to the needy two days a week along with their food pantry. I know several of the teachers at our school refer families to them if they notice the kids don't have appropriate shoes or winterwear or whatever, and I know a couple of families that received a lot of help from them after personal tragedies (housefire, storm damage). I like knowing that my kids gently used hand-me-downs are going to help other kids/families in our little town.

 

[mommy2princesses0309]

I find it a pain to load up and take stuff to goodwill, salvation army, etc.
Lately I've been just giving stuff away with Freecycle, stuff is usually taken pretty quickly and it's out of my house

I've also donated to Vietnman Veterans of America (they have a website where you can request a pick up)

 

[maggieusa]

I take my items to the local arni foundation to help with animals . They are a local no kill shelter but need all the help they can get.

 

[mrsklamc]

Besides what's been mentioned, Nike recycles old shoes into playground material:

http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/

Dress for success helps low income women be dressed appropriately for job interviews:

http://www.dressforsuccess.org/

And our local library takes books for sale.

 

[okeydokey]

Kids clothes and books we donate to people we know with younger children. All else goes to Goodwill.

 

[marcemc]

Depending on what the item is, you might try a local women's shelter. We have one in our area for women/children who are fleeing abuse. Items that allow them set up a new household are helpful. Baby items, I usually take to a crisis pregnancy center.

This is what we do. This kind of shelters usually are in great need and give everything you donate a good use.

 

[Darcy03231]

Our Humane Society will take old blankets and towels.

Women's shelter for furniture/household items. Sometimes they will take clothing.

Children's home will usually take children/teen clothing (unless they're really overloaded). They do help extended family even if the all the children are not staying in the children's home.

We have a local mission that will take everything else and disburse it in the community.

I tend to stay away from our Goodwill and Salvation Army unless its a last resort. Everything donated gets trucked out to some redistribution center. Both of our local stores having nothing but junk in them and I know I've donated good stuff.

 

[cats mom]

Project Night Night is a favorite of mine for kids books, blankets and stuffies.

But I admit I'm all about whoever will come pick it up for most household stuff. Looking through some recent donation slips that's been a Cancer Cure Foundation, a Legal Aid Clinic, and With Woman, which is a center for maternity care in underserved populations. All worthwhile charities, and they all came to me to pick up my stuff.

 

[cjlvsccm]

See if your local Habitat for Humanity operates a Habitat RE-Store. Any donated home fixtures or appliances (unused tiles, cabinetry, doors, windows, sinks, tubs, ceiling fans, etc.) find a temporary home there, so that anyone renovating might find something that just matches what they need. They also have another section that is for normal thrift store items, furniture and knick-knacks. All proceeds support the local Habitat fund, which builds several houses in town every year here.

 

[kirstenb1]

Toys go to dd's preschool or our church nursery. Specialized learning toys have also gone to our local Early Intervention team (younger dd has special needs, and was in EI for 2 yrs--they can always use toys). Clothes go to friends/relatives or the local Clothes Cottage (similar to Salvation Army). Although I currently have a ton of nearly new Gymbo clothes that I may bundle and sell on Craig's List.

 

[DVCLiz]

Our Junior League runs a thrift store in town and I take everything to them. They sell the stuff in the community and then return the proceeds to the community as well. Win win!

 

[debsays]

We bring our items to Savers. They deal with Big Brothers/Sisters.

 

[RetroMom]

I've done many of the things that people have listed above. The one thing that I always do after a yard sale is immediately bag up anything left over and take it over to the United Methodist Children's Home. The Auxiliary has a sale twice a year to raise funds for the home. They have a donation site where you drop stuff off and they price it and sell it to raise funds for the children living in the homes there. It's an awesome sale to go to too!

 

[Duckyiam71]

We bring our items to Savers. They deal with Big Brothers/Sisters.

I take ours there some but ours donates to the Candlelighters. I also do the children crisis center and we also live near an Army installation and donate to Jr Enlisted Center.

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

I try to give what I no longer use to local church ministries
that give the items to those who need them.

Here's why:
I teach nutrition, basic cooking and shopping skills to limited resource families
(families who qualify for food stamps).
Some (but not all) of these families live in dire circumstances.
I remember preparing to make pizza with a client in her home,
and I had forgotten to bring a can opener.
No big deal, I thought, we can just use hers.
She did not own a can opener- she used a really sharp knife
to stab the top of the can in three places so she could pry it open.
Such a simple thing, a can opener, can make such a difference for a family.
Sometimes we don't realize how blessed we are.

I remember another client's home where they had a bed, a mattress, but no bedding.
It was February, and they kept the house very warm because they had nothing but one blanket, and they bought kerosene for the heater 2.5 gallons at a time because that was what they could afford.
Heaven help them if they ran out of kerosene and did not have cash for more.

Both of these moms love their families and are doing their best to provide for them- their lack of what most would consider a necessity in no way reflects on their dedication, love or care of their children.

Local church ministries often are looking for bedding, kitchen gadgets, etc, to give to those who are in need.
Good Will is great, and I have given stuff to them and bought stuff
from them (the "GW Boutique"! lol) but I now prefer a more direct approach.