Let’s face it after the holidays many of us end up with way more than we need. All into a trash bag, no? Not quite. Many local groups would love your extras. You could just haul everything off to Goodwill but chances are the more specific you are with your donations the more likely they will go to good use. Here are a few places to get started.

Who :Dress for Success
What they want ffice and interview appropriate attire, dress shoes, purses, and accessories
What they do : Dress for Success is a nationwide organization that helps women get back on their feet and into the work place through practical general job skills training, interview practice, and job placement and support. Once a woman has completed her training courses the organization goes one step further; it, through your donations, helps her literally dress for success. Can you imagine living cent to cent and being forced to purchase an entire office appropriate wardrobe? It can be a real roadblock for someone without even enough money for food. If you have things to give click on their link and find a local drop-off. They have offices in almost every major and even many minor cities.

Who : Baby Buggy
What they want : baby gear of all kinds including furniture
What they do : Baby Buggy works with social services to provide families in need with the necessary baby gear by collecting the millions of unwanted items from the 5 boroughs and redistributing them where needed. Their efforts are brilliant because they provide desperately needed relief in our poorer neighborhoods AND save tons of very useful gear from hitting our landfills. They do only serve the NYC area, but if you contact your local social service agency they may know of a similar organization.

Who : ASPCA
What they want : pillows, blankets, pet food and pet supplies
What they do : ASPCA provides care for unwanted animals and assists in finding them loving homes. Your old blankets and pillows can provide a touch of home and comfort to an animal awaiting a home. There are ASPCAs in almost every neighborhood.

As you put away your new things, remember that many could benefit from your old ones. Charities that do such crucial work are doubly hit when the economy sucks; their services are in extremely high demand…and they face the biggest funding cuts and donation shortages. You would be surprised what an impact a little bit of donating effort can do. And if you really want to start the year right, organize a few of your friends and each collect for specific goods for selected organization. (I’ll be grubbing clothes off my friends for Dress for Success.) If everyone takes up one collection the burden is nothing…one collection and drop off each. Plus, it really helps everyone with the clean out if they have specific things to pare down. So annoy your friends with your do-gooding today by assigning them do stuff they probably don’t want to do but will feel really good about after. If we can’t annoy the ones we love who can we annoy? Well I guess we then start a blog and annoy complete strangers across the nation.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 6:46 am and is filed under reuse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.