Pls check if shelters accept items before donating

[DianneS]

I`ve donated to a woman's shelter before and razors were not accepted.

Interesting.....I donate to two local women's transition houses and they have always been happy to have them. Good illustration of why it's important to phone ahead. Depending on their particular clientele, they will or will not want certain items.

The other shelter I donate to is one where they have a core clientele whom they know very well (mostly men) and they are judicious about what they give to whom.

[cinpow]

i email the local food bank here with a list of items that I will be bringing and get them approved first before I carry a whole box stuff there. I don't want to have the hassle to carry them back home if they are not accepted.

[anastasia1009]

when it comes to razors if they accept them disposable razors are better than refillable blades. Because some men and women have certain diseases that can be passed from one person to another and disposable can be thrown in the garbage after one use. Disposable razors depending on the brand get dull easier so its harder for them to take apart the razor & use it for drugs. And depending on the shelter, clients at that shelter use that razors for cutting skin, cutting up drugs etc so we are so careful when it comes to razor.

[SarahS83]

The food bank I volunteer for takes mouthwash and razors with no issues. No harm in calling or emailing the shelter in question to see what they take in/hand out. If a shelter won't take it see if a food bank will.

I talked to a paramedic once who has to pick up the same guy each time he drinks mouthwash. Sounds terrible!

[walkonby]

anastasia thank you very much for posting this! I never considered a person with a drug or drinking problem abusing these everyday items. Probably because food has always been my main donation anyway. Good to know, thanks.

[anastasia1009]

The food bank I volunteer for takes mouthwash and razors with no issues. No harm in calling or emailing the shelter in question to see what they take in/hand out. If a shelter won't take it see if a food bank will.

I talked to a paramedic once who has to pick up the same guy each time he drinks mouthwash. Sounds terrible!

when I worked at a men's shelter in Ottawa this convenience store really close would sell Listerine and other mouthwashes behind the counter to the homeless cheap. These men would come to bed check smelling of mouthwash and one guy passed away while I was working and his liver couldn't take it anymore. No matter how many times we complained he would stop selling then start up again within weeks. Its the same with cans that use nitrous oxide to dispense the product people use to get high and even paint thinner & other substances for huffing.

[Insane]

Until we moved here, I was really blind to these sort of things. At grocery store downtown here, the mouthwash is kept locked up! I think you just need to fit your donations to the program. Here places like the emergency housing shelter would accept mouthwash, but the day shelter wouldn't.

[Insane]

Strange. Watched too many episodes of Intervention, I suppose.

People have also made drinks from hand sanitizer.

People drink purell. I know a few health centers that have had to take down their dispensers on the wall or switch to a foam based one because of problems. I can't imagine an addiction so bad that you need to drink hand sanitizer.

[young-one19]

People will try just about anything. My mom used to tell me in her small town, people would steal vanilla extract, because it also has some alcohol content.

[GeorgiaK]

Every year I choose a charity. I contact them and ask what they would be needing and then try to fill that need.

[Darth Penguin]

When I worked in a lab, we used to keep our solvents in a locked brick storage building ...we had to change the locks at least once a year due to people breaking in and stealing them.

[avoncallingu]

Thank you, Anastasia!

[hydroxybutane]

Good point about the mouthwash and razors! We have nice ladies who save up their hotel supplies all year round and come and to the soup kitchen around Christmas time to give them out. I had to explain to them that we couldn't hand out the mouthwash (even alchol free) or hand sanitizer because it would be drank immediately. They couldn't understand why anyone would drink mouthwash or hand sanitizer. It's hard to understand until you've seen people so desperate

It's always a good idea to check and see if charity needs your items. One Christmas we had a very nice gentleman offer to donate two bottles of wine to ever Christmas outreach family so they could celebrate Christmas cheer. Sigh...I had to point out to them that many of our families may have alcohol related issues and he could very huffy with me and told me that everyone deserves Christmas cheer even it comes from a bottle. Thankfully his wife talked him into donating turkeys instead

[torontogal12]

People have donated weird food items before and they said they would never eat it so the homeless might like it. Mostly at Xmas time we get weird food items and it goes in the garbage.

That's awful. Just because they're homeless doesn't mean they should be eating junk some people think it's good enough. They're human beings too

[Darth Penguin]

Don't get me onto the dirty, torn buttonless clothes that were dropped off at the local trying to get people into work centre* and were rejected and the highly indigant "ladies" who claimed that "they " should be grateful for any item that these "ladies" should desire to gift them regardless of what was requested...ie suits, shirts, dresses, skirts of a quality which needed minimal effort to make presentable.

* I'm sure there's a correct term but my brain is fried now..