Here is a challenge.
Pick a number between 20 and 50.
Got it?
Now get up right now and walk into your closet. With your selected number in mind, grab that many pieces of clothing that you are certain you have not worn in the last six months. If you were a little aggressive in your randomly selected number and really can’t find that many items in your own closet, leave that closet and go to another one in the house to find the final pieces to reach your goal.
Were you able to do it? Were you able to get a handful or two arms full of clothing that you would be willing to part with? Just think if every American did that right now. How many donated items could be given to the local Red Cross clothing pick up service that just left a message at your house?
Here is a different kind of challenge. Can you challenge the other members of your house to have an alphabetical scavenger scavenger hunt in your house? Would this motivate you to collect items for the next Red Cross clothing pick up service?
What do you think about this alphabetical list of items that could be donated to a charitable organization in your community?
Athletic shoes
Bowls
Coats
Dog beds
Exercise equipment
Footballs
Garden hoses
High chairs
Ice cream scoops
Jump ropes
Kitchen appliances
Lawn tools
Mirrors
Never been used curtains
Oval platters
Purses
Queen-size sheets
Rain boots
Staple guns
Towels
Umbrellas
Vases
Watering cans
X-country skis
Yellow shirts
Zippers and other sewing notions
And if you have taken the time to collect an alphabetical list of donations, are you ready to double down?
Mentally, give an estimated value of each of those alphabetical items. Would you consider instead of just donating your unwanted and unused items to also make a matching monetary donation?
Whether you are donating to the immediate needs a flood victims in Louisiana or to the vintage quest that many homeowners and interior designers have, the results are the same. Getting unused items out of your house and into the homes of others is a definite advantage to deciding to donate. Ultimately, though, the reason to make donations is not just to get rid of your items, but to really lend a helping hand to those in need.
Unfortunately, when people do not take time to intentionally donate they sometimes carelessly throw away. To confirm this waste, the Environmental Protection Agency indicates that Americans throw away an average of 10 pounds of clothing a person every year. Red Cross clothing pick up services can make sure that this kind of waste does not continue.
Face it. No one should need a game or contest to motivate them to donate the things that they are not using. Nickel and diming a few dollars out of a garage sale that you keep saying you are going to have is counterproductive. Donating the next time Red cross clothing pick up services call is productive. Your clothing donations can mean a young child having something he or she is proud of on the first day of school. Your clothes donations can mean that a recently unemployed father of three has something presentable to wear to work.
Whether you donate clothing to a specialty drive for victims of the recent Louisiana floods or you donate clothes to the annual Red Cross donations drive in your own community, the items you give can find a new life in the empty homes of other. when you do make the decision to donate you are including yourself in the group of the 70% of Americans who indicate that they too donate every year.
Recent studies show that 3% of American income is given to charities every single year. the good news is that these donations often do more than their original intent. In fact, an annual value of $666.1 billion is contributed to the U.S. economy by non-profits. These dollars help invigorate the economy that ultimately serves those in the most need.
You really should not need a challenge to get rid of things that you no longer use. Americans, however, tend to be collectors of stuff. Some of this stuff, however, could serve a far greater purpose to a family in need.
It may be a challenge to give up the extra things that you have, but are you ready?
Set.
Go!
