Since when do people who are freezing turn down a coat if it has a stain on it? From Raleigh Rescue Missions website. Here are some tips for donating. • Please ask yourself before giving an item: “Would I wear/use this myself or give it to a friend?" • We cannot use gifts that are torn, stained, broken or otherwise in need of repair. :?
You would not believe some of the stuff people give to charities. It takes an incredible amount of time to sort through the rags and pick out the usable items.
I have seen bags of rags, dirty nasty stuff that I would not used to wash the dog being donated (with tax receipt!). Total crap. You would be shocked to see what is dropped of at say... Basic Needs or any charity. Just junk.
I agree with the charity, basically you just made them responsible for disposing of your trash. With the possible exception of someone who is literally living on the street, who would want to wear clothes that were clearly ready for the trash. Typically the clothes we donate are suitable for work and we have been asked, in the past, to send clothes that someone could use for a job interview through our church.
With excess available, why would a charity give low quality goods As a mother or father wants the best for their children regardless of income, good charities want the best for their children (clients or customers). Basic Needs Ministry, a small local charity, received over 300,000 donated items in 2007. When checked under bright lights over 200,000 were dirty or torn. We provide clothing in the name of 300 churches, schools, and agencies to a local base of 7,200 local children and 8,000 families and supply excess to orphans and homeless through the M.E.R.C.I. Center, World Vision, and the U.S. State Department. Regardless of the quality donated, most churches want their referrals to get the best. Overseas shipments cost about $8,000 each. We are banned from shipping less than new looking clothing, which would waste church and tax dollars and insult the recipients. Our community has no shortage of clothing, which is one point we made by starting our project in Cleveland. It was our intention to make Cleveland self sufficient and sustainable and not always dependent on Raleigh and Smithfield. We had to save money for our residents, since gas was trending to $3 a gallon and the requirements in the big cities were costing our folks at least one day's wage for each family member and a day of missed school for each child. Yes, just to get free clothing. We also sought to save the communities' churches and teachers money, because they often dipped into their offering plates and pockets to buy clothing for our needy children. Basic Needs sorted and gave away enough of your donations in new condition to top $1.3 million in value since May 2003. Today, it still has 28,000 items on the display racks and 800 boxes in back stock. This is why we seek volunteers to handle our basic needs - sorting and stocking. We have to use a two-step sorting process to eliminate the dirt and tears in the clothing, which is our most costly labor drain. Unfortunately, this is normal for charities that accept clothing donations. If you find a charity that continually asks for clothing and doesn't stress the need for clean clothing, they are usually selling their donations directly to the world clothing market and not trying to place them directly on people's backs. This region has one charity alone that sells about 15,000,000 pounds of clothing a year to the brokerage system. We have warehouses in Raleigh holding hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothing for sale overseas, some of which was never seen by the charity collecting it. Currently, there are more than 6 major players in the local market that pocket most of the funds made from selling their clothing, received as donations, rather than help their advertised clients. To skirt the state laws, they usually run a charity and for-profit business at the same time. This includes one that has had a cease and desist order from the State and has changed its name 5 times in as many years. One claims to bring in $500,000 a year in sales (his pocket) for every 200 boxes he sets on gas station and shopping center lots. He wants quality and yet deals in such volume, that the blended donations don't hurt his business. He, like so many brokers, don't provide local assistance here anymore than in his other states. Once in a while he might send $1,000 to charity and promise you'll get a tax write-off, but that is only .000002% going to charity. He would accept any coat. By the way, I got a call from a dealer a couple years ago and found 50,000 pounds of coats and winter clothing baled in a Raleigh warehouse and dumped by local thrifts and charities just before a coat collection campaign by a local charity. Clothing is a strange situation. Our prayer is that donor's sort their clothing before giving it to the charities. The IRS changed the law and now requires wearable clothing before donations are approved for deductions. Perhaps I raise more issues for you, but think on them.
it's hard to believe that you would copy this quote from the raleigh rescue mission and title your thread "picky charities??"
I would say to put yourself in the place of the one who would be receiving whatever item that would be handed out. Would YOU want to wear it or put it on YOUR child? Just because someone is poor or down on their luck does not mean that they are without dignity. Karen
Okay, you all have missed my point. It was 22 degrees out when I wrote that. The Raleigh Rescue Mission's website said they help the homeless. So... I have this coat that I have been wearing the last 2 years. It has a coffee stain on the pocket. I was looking for a place to donate it. Their site said they didn't want clothing with a stain on it. So I didn't donate it to them. I just wanted someone who was cold to be kept warm. My Family has volunteered at Basic Needs Ministries hanging up clothes and helping people bring boxes of food out to their cars. When I was a child we didn't have money for winter coats. The school nurse found one that a family was throwing away and gave it to me. I was happy to not be shivering on the playground. It wasn't the prettiest coat or in the best condition but I didn't care. I was warm.
By all means I'm not trying to start something... If its just a coffee stain, is there anyway to get it cleaned? Perhaps an inexpensive dry cleaners? It sounds like a really good coat. I also do not drink coffee so I have no clue if coffee stains come out or not. :mrgreen: Just a thought!
