Pls check if shelters accept items before donating

[SarahS83]

I remember once hearing Kevin Frankish saying something along the lines of "Please think about what people might actually want and be able to use when you donate to the food bank, don't just clean out your cupboards of stuff that's about to expire or weird stuff you bought for a recipe and didn't use."

\It is so so true. People donate all kinds of things to the local food bank here. Packets of things they opened, decided they didn't want and then taped back up. No one wants to eat that! Nor can I give people that in good faith.

[DianneS]

I worked at value village awhile back and even the clothes that were rejected were bundled up and sold and the part of the profits were donated to the charity of the month. I thought most places were like that, that they'd take anything really.

Many agencies are finding that their costs for hauling useless donations to the dump are crippling. The thing with clothing though, is that larger organizations can sell it to the recyclers. I think it becomes those bolts of fabric that say "fiber content unknown"....

[DianneS]

It was a private charity attached to a church and what they wanted were clothes that needed, say a button sewing on or a zipper repaired to make it suitable for an interview or starting work type of thing.

Because it was run on a few hours a month type of basis, the few people who volenteered didn't have the time money or resources to deal with totally unsuitable clothes.

I worked at a church for several years and the things people wanted to donate were sometimes very discouraging. Our insiders' description of it was "Junk for Jesus". (It may sound disrespectful but it was said in good humor.) If it is too old, worn out, damaged or abused for a person to use themselves, why would someone else want it? Now if it's a good item that they just no longer use or have outgrown, that's another story.

[garret]

thank for sharing......

[Midnightly]

i think this depends on the type of shelter.. i know we have a few different shelters in our area.. our women in need shelter is always asking for things like razors and happy to take small bottles of mouth wash (these are often women and children fleeing from a bad situation) there are also dry shelters (shelters that will now allow drunk people in) and wet shelter, food banks are also a place you can donate toiletries like the mouth wash and razors they do appreciate it

[amanda4]

I also volunteer at a shelter. It is like a super shelter... On 2 floors there is mens.. On 2 floors there is womens.. And the top 2 floors are youth. It's a salvation Army shelter. And what you can donate also depends on the group. We have different donate rules depending on the group. Mostly the same but a few differences. But I completely agree with you. People need to call first. They need to check what shelters and food banks accept. there are good reasons that they don't accept things. Like OP said mouth wash gets them drunk. We have also lost some to that. We have lost 17 ppl to alcohol poisoning from mouth wash. It is very good that you posted this OP because people seem to have forgotten to call ahead. And I have also heard the "I would never eat this, so I thought the homeless would like it because I got it for free". The homeless are no different than us. They like the same foods. Not fair to judge them like that. Not saying anyone here feels that way. But it's surprising that people actually do. Homeless doesn't mean you are not a person just the same...

[Decaf]

Where can I donate knick knacks like mouth wash, books, pads, medicine, shampoos, gadgets, house hold items, ? Will Goodwill accept those??

[tjthemanto]

They don't even take cereals if you open the box and cut out the coupons from the cereal box , and then donate the unopened perfectly sealed plastic bag with the creal inside

Lot of times the cereal is only worth 2-3 bucks but the cpns on the box are worth 10-15 bucks so people try to keep the cpns for themselves and donate the cereals , but the food bank doesn't take it

[FallenPixels]

Depends a lot on the food bank, mine will if I take the box there and cut them out so they can see it was sealed (but they do a breakfast club so pour the cereal into tubs)