The senior in high school still remembers that the white paint on the shorts came from the first church youth group work trip to MaBank, Texas. In fact, looking at the paint stains in the well worn pair of shorts help her remember the crew she worked with and the never to be repeated opportunity to buy $5 t-shirts from the school store. The green paint? Those stains remind her of the best work crew and the adult crew leader. The leader was a mother of three who only lived 70 miles from that high school senior. And those 70 miles became that senior’s first solo highway drive just so the work camp leader and the soon to be graduating senior could have a chance to catch up on all of those memories from the week she spent wearing those green and white paint stained shorts.
Favorite pieces of old clothing can have a lot of memories. And while you might remember when you added the blue paint stains to those already colorful shorts, those memories are not necessarily a reason to keep every piece of clothing that clutters your closet and drawers. The blue paint stains that remind you of the two story job requiring the use of extension ladders on your second trip may bring back fond memories, but they may also encourage you to keep clothing that you no longer wear. Clothing that could be recycled instead of stashed on the top shelf of your closet.
Often times, fond memories of summers gone by keep us too closely attached to items in our house that could have a second life somewhere else. A second life in the closet or set of drawers of a family that struggles to find enough clothes to wear to school or to a job. A second life as textiles that can be recycled into new fabric for other uses.
What is keeping you from donating to organizations that provide used clothing pick up services? Is it the memory of your daughter riding her bike for the first time that is keeping you from donating that perfectly good coat to someone who needs it more? As more and more families work to declutter their homes, these families are making the choice to use pictures and written memories instead of boxes of outgrown and never worn clothing to reminisce. Many centers provide used clothing pick up services because they are desperate for the things that are just taking up space in your kitchens, your bedrooms, and your attic. Isn’t it time that you allow yourself to be grateful for the memories, but unload the possessions and the items that you no longer use but could be of service to someone less fortunate?
Charitable Clothing Donations Can Make a Huge Difference to Those in Need
Working with organizations that provide used clothing pick up services allows you to get rid of extra clutter at your house while serving a greater purpose at the same time. Did you know, for example, that an estimated 27% of military families in America have over $10,000 in credit card debt. Additionally, an estimated 207,000 recent veterans were unable to find work in the month of March 2013? What if the clothes that you are no longer using, collected by a used clothing pick up service could help these families stretch their money to the end of the month? What if the suit that is too small for your husband could give someone the confidence to go to one more job interview? And what if that one more job interview helped that person get the job?
Organizationa looking for clothing donations in a large city would appreciate you taking the time to see what gently used items you could give. In Philadelphia, for example, a city with the worst poverty rate among the top 10 largest cities in America, approximately 440,000 residents currently fall below the federal poverty line. It is likely that every one of those people could benefit from items in your house that are no longer used or no longer worn.
Keep the memories from those clothes, but donate the clothes themselves for some else’s use.