Helping your community is a great feeling. You might find it hard to have the time to volunteer in your neighborhood. One great way to give back is through donated gently used items, especially clothing. One study finds that 70% of people in the United States donate to charity every year. It’s likely you have items in your home that you have no real use for. You might be unaware of what happens to your clothes after they are donated. In this post, you will learn about preparing, donating, and the future of your used clothing.
Preparing Items
You will first need to find the items you plan on donating. It’s easy to be unaware of what gently used means. Generally speaking, you will want donated clothing to not have any noticeable tears, markings, or holes. It’s understandable that most people will be donating clothing that has been worn. American Red Cross clothing donations don’t need to be new but giving away brand new items is appreciated. Ensure you check every closest to your home or any other areas that clothes are present. You don’t want to come back from donating all of your items to realize you forgot to check an entire room.
Donating Items
You can donate clothes to Red Cross facilities or have them picked up for you. It’s easy to find a Red Cross donation location, as many of them are placed throughout the United States. Dropping off clothing is a quick and easy process. Not everyone is able to freely leave their home whenever they want which makes clothing pick up the best option. You can choose to donate your items at a Red Cross donation center. You will also find there is a Red Cross pickup service available in many areas. What a Red Cross pickup service does is transports your charitable donations from your home, without you ever having to leave. You can rest assured that your items are going to help people all over the world. In addition, you will save a little money on your taxes through charitable donations. These donations are tax deductible based on the value of items you have donated.
How Your Donations Help Others
After your clothes are collected by the Red Cross, they begin helping others. The main way that your clothing donations help is by other people receiving them. People who are less fortunate receive clothing donated by you that helps to keep them safe and warm. Research shows that nearly 14.3 million tons of donated clothing materials are what helps keep the less fortunate clothed. Other clothing items may be sold to used clothing stores. Profit from sold clothing goes to fund the Red Cross in order to allow them to keep helping those in need. No matter where your donated clothes end up going, you can be sure that they were used to help people who are less fortunate.
In closing, there are a few steps that go into donating used clothing. You will need to prepare the items that you want to donate. The act of getting clothes ready to send away can feel overwhelming. However, you will feel much better knowing you’ve given back and now have a cleaner home to show for it. Donating clothing to the Red Cross is either done through drop off or pick up service. The Red Cross pickup service is especially useful for people who can’t leave their residence. Clothing donations will either go directly to those in need or sold to help fund other charitable efforts of the Red Cross.
