@NAES1 wrote:
@63Chev63 wrote:
wildcat fan, I would go the homeless shelter route. The GW will charge people that need help. That is not good.
@A60_Chevy,
I completely agree!
If contemplating giving _out_, no..., I never have chosen ( but 1 time) Good Will!
An excellent [ unfortunate ] communication in lessons learned.!!!!
I had a beautiful sterio system with many features, also could be used as a lovely piece of furniture. Also, had a new floor model sewing machine, along with carefully folded clothing{ cleaned and ironed }. Two large - very great and CLEANED lounge chairs.
I called for a pick up and the woman whom I had spoken to was very rude, as IF she was doing me a favor.
With she being in such a hurried grouchy mood, she said: " just bring it all in".
No, I don't do the work for someone else when they are the employee being paid OR reaping $$$s from selling to those IN NEED, as I though. Maybe ( me assuming here) the ones in NEED can not frequent GW? I have no idea.
My family has always called the Salvation Army, and they are so grateful to have any thing.
They have provisions for more than two men, if needed, to come and carefully remove ' and HELP' to box, lift and remove.
There are different divisions ( Salvation Army ) that distributes to different needs. I chose for all of my furni, clothing and useful projects ( seeing machine) to stay on the premises where there are learning facilities for short rehabilitation stays until employment can be found.
Also, Viet Nam pick up is for anything that can fit on a shelf. From canned foods- clothing. A very small amount of money is needed for anyone in need to buy.
Thank you for bringing this comment up 63Chev63. GW is totally out for me.
The Homeless Shelter is an excellent. Ideally, I choose this as #1.
I am more so cooperative if I can be one on one through a well known church facility.
NAES.
Everyone should choose charities that speak to them and their money or donation of goods should support causes that one is passionate about. Therefore my post isn't to convince anyone to donate to any particular charity.
I would like to clear up a couple of things, though, that routinely come up when donating is discussed on these forums.
First, many of these national charities are run differently in different regions, each with their own boards, presidents, etc. So if the one in one city doesn't pick up or have certain services, or has rude employees, doesn't mean the entire organization does the same. As with most businesses, it varies with each store/city/region.
Many charities cannot afford to pick up anymore. The cost of maintaining trucks, insurance (if they damage your property or the drivers get hurt getting the washer out of your basement) hiring drivers etc. is way more than they make on the sale of those pickups. Also, it was my experience in thrift store management, that people will tell you their furniture/appliances are clean, nice and serviceable, but over half the locations we would visit in a day, would prove otherwise, and we couldn't accept the donation. Lots of wasted time, money, fuel, wear and tear on trucks, driving around to have to refuse donations because of condition.
And charities that resell the items donated are doing so to support a specific cause. Goodwill takes a pretty bad rap for selling what is donated, but in my opinion (having worked for several non profits like it) Goodwill was my favorite. Their mission is to provide job training and placement for people with barriers to employment. In our area, that was people with physical, emotional and mental barriers.
I loved working with the clients, watching them grow, and eventually getting jobs out in the general workforce. There were programs to then go on the job with them, and keep retraining and support them to keep the job long term. To me, using my donation to help people be independent, contributing members of of society, proud of their successes is a wonderful use of resources. And the stores in each town provide jobs for the local workforce as well.
Charities that run thrift stores also provide a place for many people to purchase things they might not otherwise be able to afford. Nice quality clothing, household goods and furniture, at prices that allow many working families to have so much more than they otherwise could. Over the years, I had many people on fixed incomes, or rasing their kids, tell me how grateful they were for the thrift stores and the great deals they found there. There were also grateful to be able to provide for their family's needs rather than rely on a handout from charity.
I also support several hospice based thrift stores that are in our area. All the staff are volunteers and the money raised goes into the program.
In my experience (and that is not to say that all of them) the charities I worked for that 'gave away' what was donated to them were inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful in comparison to those that were set up with a sales model.
I guess I just feel the need to point out that because a charity sells the donations it collects doesn't mean that they aren't doing really great things. Sometimes as good or better than some that just redistribute donations for 'free'.
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