Monday, July 7, 2014

Donate your Left-Over Merchandise to Reach the End-User


Shasta Daisy flower in natural setting
Add Beauty to Someone's Life with Your Donation

Donating Where It’s Most Helpful and Best Used

When you have leftovers from your garage sale or are cleaning out the house or garage, you probably think you’re doing a good deed by donating it to a local non-profit. Some non-profits resell everything, and some really give things away. If you donate to a non-profit corporation that sells the merchandise, the people who really need it never get it. They usually don’t have vehicles to drive around looking for bargains, and they don’t have money to buy what they need.

I saw a whole box of hotel soaps and shampoos for sale at a local non-profit store this week -- someone had spent some time in Las Vegas. These are great items for the women’s shelter or for a homeless shelter with shower facilities. If you donate to the place where the product is used, your donation goes directly to someone who needs it and won’t get thrown out if it doesn’t sell.

Blankets, coats, towels and washcloths are also essentials for women’s shelters and homeless shelters. New products like unopened make-up, combs, brushes and even emery boards are helpful donations for shelters. Shelters need school supplies because kids are homeless, too. 

Call around and find out which organization can use your leftovers, instead of donating them to a place that sells them. Even the profit doesn’t go to homeless or needy from some of these non-profit stores; it goes to build more stores and grow the capital of these non-profit outfits. Many of the non-profit stores pay management bonuses to use the profit, while lower-level employees get minimum wage and aren’t allowed to purchase anything in the store.

When you live in a nice neighborhood, it’s difficult to locate individuals who really need, but they’re in every town and city in America. You can make a difference with your cast-offs by touching base with organizations like food pantries, homeless shelters, women’s shelters and the Salvation Army donation center. These organizations run shelters and provide food as well as supplies to individuals and families. Coat drives give away coats before the cold weather begins. Some organizations give away fans in the southern states in the summer and provide blankets in the winter. 

The Salvation Army in our area interviews individuals and provides a voucher for household necessities like silverware, pots and pans and sheets -- particularly helpful for someone who leaves an abusive relationship or is starting over after a fire. When the person finds an approved item, it’s checked off the voucher and bagged at no cost to the individual. If the store doesn't have all the items at one time, the person can return to shop until listed items are located and checked off the voucher. 

Before you make a run to the nearest thrift store, consider where your donations will reach the end user. A place that sells the items to build another store may not be your best choice.

See you soon!

Linda