I love anything by Joe Cocker. He's saying, have a little faith in me. Yes. Wow.
Day off work yesterday, Memorial Day. Uh-huh. Always a good day. Yes, always a good thing.
And you had a celebration over the weekend. I sure did. My husband, Charles, and I celebrated yet another wedding anniversary, and that is always a blessing when you can have another one. Happy anniversary, friends.
Thank you so much. And, you know, June is almost here. That's really hard. Can you believe I said that?
No. June is almost here. I feel like every year gets faster and faster. I know.
They're moving quickly. School is out officially around here. There you go. Summer break is here.
Memorial Day is like the official summer kickoff. Right. Well, they say unofficial, but hey, it's official to me. It's official to me.
They can be put to the fuse. No, it's true. Because if y'all are like me, sometimes you drive around for a few weeks. They ride around with you, or they sit in your corner and kind of stare at you a little bit.
But it is kind of tough to decide. And one of the most popular places to take items are places that, you know, sell them and use the profits to do good. Oh, yeah. Which, that is a wonderful plan.
I'm going to give you a statistic, though. It's going to kind of, you know, puzzle you a little bit. Less than half of the items. And when I say less than half, some sources say 30-something percent, and some sources say 40-something percent.
So that's why I'm just going to say less than half, okay? Of the things that are donated to charity resale places are actually sold. So half the stuff is not sold. So is there a reason?
Yeah. There are multiple reasons. Well, a lot of the stuff shouldn't have been donated in the first place. It's nasty.
It's mildewed. It's too worn out. It's got holes in it. Stuff that really shouldn't have even come.
So you're saying that a lot of us donate things that we should have, that should really have never left our house. We should have dealt with it. Yes. We should have done something with it.
Also, you know, the stores are limited in space. You know, they only have so much space. So the rest of the stuff, some of it is sent overseas. We're hoping that it makes it where it needs to get and that they can use it.
We want to only donate things that we would actually use. You know, if it's been sitting around and you hadn't looked in this bag or smelled the bag for a long time, you know, it may not be something that you need to donate. But what we want to talk about today, we're going to give you some other options that you may not have thought about for places to donate things. If you don't have any bags right now, things that you can keep in the back of your mind.
Yes, because a lot of us live in small communities that don't have one of those places you're referring to that we can donate to a resale. So this is going to be really helpful. Yes. So the first one, and you and I have both done this, but local schools, especially if your schools wear uniforms.
Yes. Yes. So if you've got kids, the uniforms have gotten too small for them, too short for them, whatever the issue is. If they still look good, check the knees and the pants.
I have a way. Oh, we struggled with the knees and the pants. Or they're staying up so bad. Yeah.
Yeah. We don't want those. But if they still look good and your child's just growing like a weed, consider giving them to a local school. Yes.
I've done this. They were very appreciated, especially like the youngest grades where kids have accidents and they need a stash of clothes and they can send kids home in. Right. But yeah, it's helpful.
Yeah. The shirts and the pants, even shoes. Belts. Yes.
Belts. If your child has outgrown them, try to donate them to the school, even if they don't wear uniforms. Yeah. Because like I said, especially in the younger grades, kids do have accidents and things like that.
Or, you know, just sometimes there's a need. Yeah. And that makes it easy on the school to address that need. Right.
And many school systems, they have a family resource center that handles this, you know, the clothing distribution. They have like a clothing closet. And the ones that don't, then just check with the school office. They'll let you know what needs to be done.
Right. And a lot of schools have like a school social worker. And that would be another option to check with. Yes.
So this is a growing trend, I think. If you want to try to even make a little money or just donate, like, hey, who needs these? Put it on Marketplace or social media sites. Oh, I have made so much.
Oh, hold on. I know people that have made so much money selling their things in groups. And, you know, you can often find groups that are local to you and you can sell your things and you can make a little money. You know, and this is on anything.
This is shoes, clothes. If you've got home goods. Oh, my God. Right.
Yeah, anything. Yeah. And for clothing, you're going to get the best results if you've got those popular brand names and if you've got things that are new with tags. Yep.
So if you've got anything in those two categories, you're going to do the best. They're going to sell the quickest and you'll get the most money for them. However, don't hold back on the other things because, you know, if you've got a black sweater, somehow you may be looking for a black sweater. Exactly.
Yeah, that's for sure. And one note on that is just always meet in a public location. Don't go to somebody's house and don't have somebody come to your house and you don't know them. And a lot of communities, I've noticed this even in small towns, have started designating safe drop-off and pickup areas that were kind of patrolled and they are in well-lit places for nighttime drop-offs and things.
So use those. Right. Yeah. And if something doesn't feel right, if it seems shady, don't do it.
I mean, anybody that's asking for payment ahead of time or want you to reserve something, don't pay anybody you don't know and you're not getting the item. There are scammers. Of course there are. Now, this is a need that is all the time.
Animal shelters that are near you. Humane societies, any kind of shelter, they want their towels, blankets, sheets. These are things that they put down for the animals to help keep them warm and, you know, to lay on. So they need all of these things.
That's a huge need. It is. Most shelters are overrun and they go through this stuff so quick. Right.
So those towels that you're embarrassed to, you know, for your guests to see that you want to get rid of, you know, the blanket that's maybe thinned out, you know, maybe it's been washed a little bit or whatever in the sheets. So don't make those. Animal shelters will love them. Shelter because people come in oftentimes with nothing but the clothes on their back.
I used to give to the one near me all the time. And that's women's, men's and children and even toddler and baby size. I'm glad you said men. I'm glad you said men because when we hear domestic violence shelters, we're not thinking about men coming in there, but they have some men and they're going to need some clothes for the men to come in as well.
Absolutely. They need toiletries. They do. So, you know, so shampoos, like maybe you've collected some over time that you didn't really like, donate that kind of stuff.
Now, don't bring them something that's half used or whatever. But maybe you were gifted a scent that's too strong for you or you don't like scents. Yeah. Donate that.
Yeah, that's true. Or if you, you know, like my daughter, she's got quite the collection. Some stuff we've never even opened. You know, donate that.
Yeah. Lotiens, shampoos, body watches. All of that is useful. That's a great idea.
Nursing homes. And this is a place that you may not have considered before, but many other people in nursing homes don't have family around to get them clothes. And when I say clothes, I mean everything from clothing to shoes to socks and jackets, you know, coats for when they have to go to doctor's appointments and things like that in the cold weather. So, you know, this is something and the facility may not provide these things.
So call around, you know, check with the nursing home and see if this is a need. Right. There may be certain sizes that they need right now. They don't have anywhere to store mountains of clothes.
So call whenever you have some and just check and see if it's something they can use right now. I think that's a great idea. I want to pay it forward. Yeah, it is.
Another thought is a lot of our communities, especially larger towns, have some sober living houses. So people, you know, getting out of rehab and such. And they need clothes. They do.
They need toiletry items, like you mentioned before, for both men and women. So if you have any of these facilities in your area, you can really help somebody that may be trying to get a job and trying to get their life back on track by donating an outfit that they can wear for an interview. That's true. You know.
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, that is something that they need. And also, you think about the homeless shelters, you know, in the communities that have shelters for people that don't have houses.
Clothes are obvious. Also, blankets. They might need twin-size linens. You know, they provide the bedding for people that stay there.
What they really need, and this is something that you probably don't have laying around the house, or you might, they need new underwear. And you might have laying around the house that you can't wear, you know, new underwear, new socks, because all of these people that we named so far can use these. They need these things. I agree.
And I've actually, Tenille and I have had a person from the NAICS program on to talk with us on a previous podcast, but foster care families, foster care programs, you know, we've had youth villages on here before. There's a big, big need here for, again, clothes, toiletry products, things like that. But one of their biggest things, if you're getting rid of any kind of luggage, that's a big call, because when they get a call about a child or a youth, those kids often have to leave from, you know, wherever they're staying, and they want to take some of their stuff with them, and they don't have a way to do that. Right.
They have to usually transport it in a trash bag. Yeah. So, yeah, if you have luggage that you're parting with, that is a great thing to do. They also need clothes in all sizes.
And you have to think about all sizes, from infants and then to adult sizes and plus sizes, you know, because they have people up until they're 18, and some of them are larger. So, we have to make sure that everybody has something that they can wear, and again, those toiletries, because all of those people that are in the program, they're going to need these things. Right, right. Yeah.
And this is a really cool program. I don't know if our listeners are aware of it. It's called Souls for Souls. So, S-O-L-E-S.
Okay, Souls. The number four. And Souls, S-O-U-L-S. Okay.
So, it's gently used shoes for people. Okay. All right. And I wasn't familiar with this program, but it's actually a training program.
So, people donate shoes to this program, and then the program trains people who are in poverty how to run their own business, and the business is reselling these shoes. And that's how they empower them with skills so they can provide for themselves and, you know, learn how to get income and, you know, earn a living. Some entrepreneurial. And what about, like, aside from this, like, confidence building?
I know. You know? Like, that's amazing. But this is for just any kind of shoes.
Of all kinds of things. Gently used. They don't have to be new. No, no.
But you can check this out online at Souls, again, S-O-L-E-S, the number four, and then S-O-U-L-S.org, and you can click to donate some shoes. I think this would be fun for an organization to do, a church or some kind of group to, you know, maybe collect shoes. And I've seen groups collect shoes for this organization. Like, we're getting into our summer clothes and things.
So if you're cleaning out closets and doors, like, there's a whole list of ways that we all can kind of pay it forward. And your own community may have, like, a thrift store or an organization, a clothes closet, or whatever that you want to consider looking into giving to. Yeah. And just kind of keep these things in mind as we move forward, because when we get closer to school, starting back, I know we don't want to think about that.
But when we get closer to school, starting back, you're going to start, you know, looking at your uniforms and going through to see what you have and what you need. So this may be a time that you'll have some things to donate. Right. Something good to think about.
It is something good to think about. So thank you for joining us for this episode. In the words of Bob Marley, I wonder where he donated his clothes when he cleaned them out. I'm sure they had something in here.
Okay, they did. Wow. Well, anyway, he would want you to live the life you love. And love the life you live.
We'll see you in June. That's right.