When to Donate Clothing to the Red Cross
It may not come as a surprise to hear that the modern textiles industry is one of the biggest in the entire world, and people always need something to wear. A lot of clothes are made for everyday wear, such as shirts and jeans, or coats and gloves. Other clothing may be formal wear or even work clothes and military uniforms, giving textile producers plenty of demand for finished goods. The United States, in particular, is a massive producer and consumer alike for modern clothes, and Americans are buying and wearing more clothes than ever. But sometimes, the old clothes in a person’s wardrobe may end up being thrown away inst4ed of taken to use clothing donations sites, and this industry is known for its waste. Clothing donations organizations such as Red Cross, meanwhile, are known for trying to reverse this trend for humanitarian reasons. A person may donate clothes to Red Cross at any time of year, and a Red Cross donation center may night be far away. When is it time to donate clothes to Red Cross, and where can someone donate clothes in their area?
Rates of Donations VS Waste
How often to Americans choose to donate clothes to Red Cross, and how often are they simply discarding their old clothes instead? The bad news is that today, the textiles industry has one of the lowest reclamation rates out of all industries that can recycle their materials, and only around 15% of old clothes are actually donated so that someone else can wear them. Meanwhile, millions of pounds of old clothes are discarded entirely and end up in landfills, where they don’t do any good for anyone and contribute to landfill expansion. This averages out to an American adult throwing away close to 70 pounds of clothing per year rather than donating it, such as choosing to donate clothes to Red Cross. Some old clothes are recycled and shredded into stuffing for furniture or industrial rags, but some would argue that charitable giving is a better use for old clothes.
The good news in all this is that Americans in general have a strong charitable spirit, and boosting clothes donations may simply mean stoking this existing spirit for giving. This ranges from donating income to clothing, and many donations sites are open across the United States for receiving these charity items. It has been found that 70% of Americans give to charity in some capacity or other per year, and 3% of all income goes straight to charity efforts. In particular, higher-income donors cite “giving back to the community” as a major reason for giving, and many clothes donations are given every year for needy families across the nation. On top of that, millions, if not billions, of old garments are given away around the world to poorer communities, an international relief effort that is active every year. Best of all, any American adult or household can take part in this at any time, if they know what to do. Giving away clothes is something anyone can try.
Making the Donation
To start, a household can gather all clothing and personal accessories from across the home and gather them into a single, enormous pile on the floor for a comprehensive inventory. With this convenient pile on hand, everyone can sort through the pile and determine what to keep, and what is to be given away. Old clothes may be donated, for example, if they are worn out, the wrong size, out of fashion, or redundant. Shirts, shoes, coats, jeans, dresses, gloves, and more may be evaluated in this manner. Clothes to be donated can be put into bags or boxes, then sealed up once the process is done. The donor may then look up local charity donations sites online if they don’t already know one, and simply take the packaged clothes to that site and hand it all over to the staff on hand. Red Cross, for example, is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and some donors may find this very convenient. In some cases, the donor may get a tax rebate form for the value of all the items donated, a fine bonus.
