I’ve been a big supporter of Goodwill for quite some time after touring their training facility located in Charlotte, NC, during an “Amazing Race” styled event held by the Carolina Panthers. Until that moment, I had no idea Goodwill provided programs and supports services that were made possible by donations of clothes and household items. More than 261,000 people earned jobs in 2013 — one person finding a job every 27 seconds of every business day. Coming from a rural North Carolina county with high unemployment due to the loss of the textile industry, this is something I can get behind. You are literally donating stuff AND helping to create jobs.
I’m hoping I’ve been able to help create quite a few jobs. We moved in February and had what we like to refer to as “the 15 year purge.” I had no idea you could accumulate so much stuff. How much? A large U-haul and 10 trips in the car went to Goodwill. Clothes that I knew we would never wear again, dishes, board games, and gently used household items that were collecting dust. Instead of it sitting in my house, I knew it would be much better for it to go the home of someone who needed it and would love it. I also knew that I would be helping the Goodwill mission of job creation and creating sustainability in communities by putting folks back to work.
Just roughly guesstimating how much I donated equals to about 200 hours of job training using the calculator at the Goodwill Donate Movement. Even now, I’m a little overwhelmed thinking about the actual impact this will have in someone’s life. I am also working on adding more hours to Goodwill’s job training services. How? Here’s a photo of the corner of my garage where I keep the items I’m going to donate.
How can you help? Walk through your house and take a good hard look at what you have in it. Do you use it? Do you love it? Could it be put to better use by someone else? If so, send it to Goodwill. You’ll have more room at home and will be supporting your local community.
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