Americans buy a great deal of clothing. Women, for instance, owned just 12 dresses 30 years ago. Today, they own a total of 30 dresses, one for each day of the month. Americans consume nearly 20 billion garments a year. That?s 68 garments and 7 pairs of shoes per person or more than one piece of clothing purchased per week.
Americans buy a great deal of clothing but also throw away a great deal of clothing. According to the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States, Americans throw away an average of 10 pounds of clothes per person each year. That clothes could be going to another purpose. It’s one that gets little mention in the press.
In January of 2015, nearly 570,000 people were homeless on a given night in America. This is a result of the on-site, on-time, at a moment count of homeless people in cities around the country. During this count, volunteers and nonprofit organizations count how many homeless people are out there in a 24-hour period. This is because homeless people are transient.
About 15% of the homeless population or 83,000 are considered chronically homeless individuals. These individuals are those that even with “interventions” from communities and nonprofit organizations remain homeless year after year. Generally, to be considered chronically homeless, a person must be homeless for a year or longer.
With these individuals out there, and other low income families as well that have needs for low-income products, it is possible that the amount of clothes that are thrown away in American could go to a much better issue: Helping Americans that need them the most. This is especially true during the winter months.
This is the article about used clothing donations.
There are statistics about how much the United States citizens give to charity.
- 70% of people in the U.S. give to charity each year.
- 3% of American income is given to charities each year.
- 63% of high net worth donors cite ?giving back to the community? as a chief motivation for giving.
- Internationally, more than 14.3 million tons of donated American textiles help clothe people and families worldwide.
Used clothing donations help a great deal more than just the homeless and the low-income families as well. Used clothing donations help those who are most in need. They may be homeless or they may not be. They may be low income or they may not. There are other benefits as well.
An annual value of $666.1 billion is contributed to the US economy by non-profits. This economic revenue inputted by the nonprofits in America comes from numerous sources. Clothing drives and used clothing donations stimulate the economy. They are goods that have been worn before and are being given away.
This amounts of goods that have not been purchased by the nonprofit being then sold for a small profit to those who are homeless or those with low-income backgrounds (this is simply in the donation centers and the low-cost stores run by nonprofits like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army).
Some are in fact given away to those in need, as seen in multiple events or clothing drives for the homeless. But those clothes if they are sold give options for purchase in the U.S. economy, which generates revenue for the nonprofits. This revenue then goes to numerous outlets. Nonprofits are able to pay for the employees in the stores as well.
Generally in a nonprofit situation, like the American Red Cross, goods that are sold and donations that are given go to helping those in need or have community benefits, such as when the Red Cross goes into disaster areas to help those that have been afflicted by hurricanes or tornadoes.
American Red Cross donations go to funding programs to train individuals who help. American Red Cross donations go to programs and services that are available in the community. American Red Cross donations go to goods that are distributed in the community. American Red Cross donations go to help those in need, generally speaking.
There are terms associated with donations and the American Red Cross. They are Red Cross pickup, Red Cross clothes donation, Red Cross clothing donations, Red Cross clothing pick up, Red Cross clothing pickup, clothing donations center, clothing donation pickup, American Red Cross clothing donations, and many others.
