Category: Red cross clothing pickup

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5 Reasons to Donate Clothing to Charity

Charitable giving is extremely popular throughout the United States. In fact, research shows that 70% of people throughout the United States donate items to charity each year. However, you might be wanting to learn more about the benefits of donating your clothes. With that in mind, here are five important reasons to donate your old clothes to charity.

  • Getting Rid of Cluttered Spaces

    Many people donate clothing to get rid of the clutter in their respective homes. Numerous studies show that living in cluttered spaces makes people feel stressed out and even depressed. Fortunately, you can avoid dealing with these negative feelings by removing clutter throughout your home. In turn, you’ll be able to live in a space that’s free from clutter.

  • Helping Less Fortunate Individuals

    It’s important to understand how your Red Cross clothing donations help others. Your donated clothing could reach those who live in other countrie

    Continue reading “5 Reasons to Donate Clothing to Charity”
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Three Reasons to Donate to the American Red Cross

Red cross clothes donation

Many people find that donating to charities, such as giving American Red Cross donations, is a helpful way of getting rid of items they no longer use, while ensuring these items are given to benefit charity, rather than ending up in a landfill. Since over 65% of people donate items to charity every year, it stands to reason that the Red Cross is a worthy charity to donate to. Here are three reasons why giving is so important, and how the charity makes use of the donations people provide for them.

The American Red Cross Donations Individuals Provide Help Families and Those in Need

Whenever disaster strikes, the Red Cross uses donations, including clothes donations, to help individuals in need. This could be for large disasters, involving hurricanes and earthquakes, or it could be for smaller ones, such as a family losing their home in a fire. Every day, the charity helps individuals with needs such as food, shelter, and even blood, through their blood banks. This has not only saved countless lives, but if offers individuals many different ways to give back to their community. Those who cannot donate blood, for example, can donate clothing, or even food. There are many different ways for people to help out, no matter what ways they are capable of helping.

The Red Cross Does Pick Up for Donations That Individuals Cannot Drop Off

Many people have a giving spirit, but might not necessarily have the time to drop off to a donation center. In cases such as this, the Red Cross does clothing donation pickup. That means all an individual has to do is call the Red Cross, and they can come out to pick up the donations on a pre-determined day. Sometimes those who are donating can simply leave the donations on the front step or down by their mailbox. Other times, the Red Cross pickup might come out to someone?s home and even have volunteers to go in and pick up larger items that might be difficult for the donor to handle. This can make it easier to donate and get rid of items that an individual no longer wants to keep, and might otherwise throw away if it were not for the charity stepping and providing an alternative way of disposing of the items. Since most individuals throw away over 7 pounds of clothing every year, donating to charity is an effective way of helping others, as well as making the environment a better place.

American Red Cross Donations Can be Written Off as a Tax Deduction

Anyone who chooses to donate to the American Red Cross can rest assured that the money or items they give can be written off as a tax deduction. Individuals who choose to donate goods, be it used clothing donations or other items, should always obtain a receipt for things they have donated or dropped off, since that is the best way to know a monetary amount that was given, especially when the amount donated was done so via used items. Individuals should always save each donation receipt that they are given, so they can add them up when tax times comes, and be able to write these items off after tallying everything up. For those that are unable to make monetary donations, this is an ideal way of helping out, while still making a tax-deductible donation and being able to write this off.

There are many different reasons to help with American Red Cross donations. Doing so not only benefits one?s community, but it can also help others across the nation, especially in disastrous events. These donations can include food, giving blood, and even clothing and blankets. The Red Cross can come to a person?s home and pick up donations that they might not be able to drive and drop off to a Red Cross donation center. This can be helpful for those that do not have a lot of time, but still want to give. Finally, donating items is helpful for anyone who wants to write off donations for their taxes. This is useful for anyone who wants to donate, but does not wish to provide monetary donations.

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Four Benefits to Donating Clothes to the Red Cross

Red cross clothes donation

When it comes time to clean out your home, it’s important to decide where your unwanted items will go. Sadly, most people take their items directly to the curb to be thrown away. According to research done by the EPA, people in the United States throw away about 10 pounds of clothes per person each year. When you donate clothes to Red Cross donation centers, you’re keeping clothes out of already full landfills.

The Red Cross has provided relief for families in communities all across the world. This organzation operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help give clothing, shelter, food, and blood to those in need. One of the most well known non-profit organizations, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing you are donating to great and established organization. Here are three benefits you can enjoy when you donate clothes to Red Cross.

  1. Helping Others in Need – One of the most important benefits of donating items you no longer use is the value it will have for someone in need. The satisfaction that comes with knowing you’ve provided clothing to someone who might freeze without it gives you an immense sense of pride. Many others who regularly donate do so because they enjoy helping others. In a recent survey, 63% of donors cited “giving back to the community” as a large motivator for their donations. Most of us are much more fortunate than we think which makes the decision to donate even more helpful to others

  2. Great for Tax Deductions – Some people who have shied away from donating in the past have been unaware of the tax benefits associated with giving back. It can’t match the value you get from helping others but any help during tax time can be a motivator to donating clothes. The write-off amount that you receive from donating will depend on various factors. Amount of merchandise, quality of merchandise, and how many separate times you donate are all factors in determine your write-off amount.

  3. Helping the Economy – Clothes donations might not seem like that much of a big deal to you. However, your donations can greatly help the economy, at a time where this help is desperately needed. It is estimated that $666.1 billion is added to the United States economy by non-profit organizations. It is amazing to think that the simple act of getting rid of older clothes can have such far reaching of an impact.

Red Cross clothing donations can greatly change the world we live in. The first benefit of knowing that you helped others in need will make you feel great. Instead of throwing away old clothes, it is much more valuable to give them to those that truly need clothing. The tax write off potential for your clothes donations are a welcome benefit for taxpayers. Some people have to pay more in taxes than others making donations a great way to reduce the amount of money you owe each year.

In summary, Red Cross donation centers are located throughout the world which means you shouldn’t have to travel too far to donate your clothing. Used clothing donations are doing much more than clearing out your closest, they are giving much needed clothes to those who are less fortunate than you. When you donate clothes to Red Cross centers, instead of throwing away your clothes, you are doing your part to make the world a better place to live in. The satisfaction you will likely get from helping others could ensure that donating becomes a valued part of your life.

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Clothes donations Red cross clothing pickup

DOs and DON’Ts for Donating Goods to Charity

Clothing donations

Have you ever considered clearing out the clutter you have around the house with a Red Cross clothing pick up service? We know what you’re probably thinking…”Red Cross clothing pick up service? I thought the Red Cross was for blood donations and money!”


In reality, the Red Cross is instrumental in meeting a wide range of needs when disaster strikes across the globe. Some of those needs are met with your blood donation. Some of those needs are met with your cash donation. And some of those needs are met with their Red Cross clothing pick up program.


When you use a Red Cross clothing pick up service, you’re able to clear out the unneeded clutter in your home, without even leaving your drive way. From there, the Red Cross uses your goods to take care of people in need. Your unneeded items meet a need and get a second life, rather than collecting dust in your home until you threw them away and they ended up in a landfill. That’s what we call a win, win, win situation my friend.

However, there’s a right and a wrong way to make used clothing donations. Whether you’re making American Red Cross donations, or you donate clothing to any other equally valid organization, please remember our list of DOs and DON’Ts:


DOs and DON’Ts for Donating Goods to Charity

  1. DO Group Similar Items Together

    The volunteers who work in the receiving center at the Red Cross, or any other organization that you give your goods to, sort through thousands and thousands of bags of goods per day. It’s their responsibility to figure out what is suitable to be reused or sold in their thrift store, and what should be recycled.


    Now, imagine that those thousands of bags were actually filled with jigsaw puzzle pieces that created one big picture, but you didn’t know what that picture was. When you put the bottom to the pot in this box and the lid to it in that box over there, and one flip flop here and the pair in another bag down the way, the volunteers who have to sort out your stuff are essentially doing a jigsaw puzzle without any reference picture. They don’t even know if you included both shoes in any of the bags. As you can imagine, this requires more effort than value they can really get from your donation.


    Instead, take just a few extra minutes while you’re boxing up your goods and attach like items together with a rubber band or tape. While we’re on the subject, it makes it a lot easier on the sorters if you put all the kitchen items together in a single box, and all the clothing items together and so on. Then, you’ve done the hard part of the jigsaw puzzle for the volunteers.

  2. DON’T Donate Trash

    Whether the organization you’re giving to is giving your goods directly to families in need, or selling them in a thrift store and using the cash to further their purpose, they can’t do anything with items that are broken or too worn out to be used. In these cases, the volunteers usually have to discard the broken and worn out items. In fact, you pay a trash service to come pick up your garbage. When you give unusable items to a Red Cross clothing pick up program, you’re literally treating them like a free trash service.


    If your unwanted items are not usable, look for an organization that recycles them for another purpose instead of an organization like the Red Cross that wouldn’t be able to reuse them.


  3. DO Treat Fragile Items as You Would if You Were Moving.

    As we mentioned above, items that are broken don’t really serve any purpose for a charity like Red Cross. If an item is in good shape when you turn it over to the donation pick up workers, but breaks before it makes it to the donation center, it serves as little purpose as if it were broken to begin with. To protect your donated items and ensure they do the most good, wrap breakable items in news paper or grocery bags or bubble tape or another protective barrier and write, “Handle with Care!” on the exterior.

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