Used Clothing Donations Help Hundreds of Thousands — Here’s How We Can Help More
It’s been found that around 70% of Americans give to charity in some way, shape, or form each year. It’s such a generous number that it may seem like something was calculated improperly. But it’s true! It has actually been determined that in addition to the above, citizens in the United States are giving about 3% of their income to charity on average each year. That’s really not bad!
Used clothing donations make up a huge percentage of these. In fact, you’ve probably seen a clothing donation pickup somewhere before — usually located in or around major shopping centers. As well as we seem to be doing, there is a lot more to be done. Studies show that the average American throws out about 10 lbs of used clothing each year. Over the course of a decade, if our hypothetical American citizen were to stop throwing those clothes away and instead opt to bring them to a Red Cross pickup, they will have given at least 100 lbs of clothing to those in need. Overall, that’s quite the contribution.
If you’re looking to donate clothing, it isn’t hard to do so. There are more than a fair share of stores or designated drop off zones that take donations. Around the holidays in particular you will see clothing drop offs or donation zones all over the place. It truly shouldn’t take too much time to go through all of your old clothes, and find some items you aren’t partial to anymore. Visiting a Red Cross pickup would likely fill you with a feeling of joy and comradery like very few things can.
In case there’s any doubt as to how needed these sorts of donations have been and continue to be, consider the following. A study conducted in January of 2015 found that over half a million people, more specifically around 564,708 or so, were homeless on any given night in America. Without the comfort and stability that comes from having a steady place to live, things can obviously get very rough. The donations you make could be ending up right in the hands of someone who needs it desperately. Great references here.
