More clothing is being purchased and used in the United States than ever before. In fact, American consume nearly 20 billion garments a year. That’s 68 garments and 7 pairs of shoes per person or more than one piece of clothing purchased per week. As that works out to a lot of clothing per person, it’s no surprise that many choose to donate old clothing to charities like the American Red Cross. The American National Red Cross is the 13th largest U.S. charity as ranked by private donations. If you choose to make American Red Cross donations, then there are several steps that need to be taken when preparing those donations for Red Cross pickup, and this article will take a look at a few of those steps.
- Choose Which Clothing Items You Want to Donate: One of the first steps to take when preparing Red Cross clothing donations is choosing which items you want to set aside for Red Cross pickup. If you have a lot of clothing items in your closet, it can be understandably hard to choose items to give away to charity. However, following this general rule usually works: if you have a clothing item that hasn’t been worn in six months or longer, then it is usually safe to give away for donation. By following that rule, you can set aside a pile of clothes to donate relatively quickly.
- Make Sure the Clothing Items are in Good Condition and Properly Packed: One of the next steps you need to take when preparing donations for Red Cross pickup is to make sure the clothing you’ve selected for donation is in relatively good shape. The Red Cross, along with other charities, will only accept clothing items that are in good shape, meaning they’re not ripped, damaged, or permanently stained in any way. Once a pile of clothing has been set aside for donation, you’ll need to go through it to make sure each piece will be acceptable for donation.
- Arrange for Red Cross Pickup of Clothing Donations: And finally, a third step that needs to be taken when preparing clothing donations for Red Cross pickup is to figure out the exact way these donations will be picked up by the organization. There are several ways this can be done. The most common ways include having the donation come in person to pick up the donations at your home, leaving the donation at a drop-off box somewhere in town, or taking the donation to the collection center. All of these ways are equally efficient in their own way, and the method you choose will largely depend on what works best for you.
In conclusion, there are several steps to take when preparing Red Cross clothing donations. These steps include choosing which clothing items you want to donate, making sure the clothing items are in good condition, and arranging for the donations to be picked up by the Red Cross via one of several methods. All of these steps need to be taken when donating used clothing to the American Red Cross.