I just went through a rather odd and frustrating experience. First, some background info:
My wife and I are trying to declutter our home. Our current target is our bedroom. One of the things we did was go through all of our clothes and bagged it up to get rid of it. We got rid of anything we 1) no longer wanted or 2) couldn’t get our asses into. We finished this project up last night. We ended our clothes sorting spree with two garbage bags full of clothes, which we intended to give to Goodwill. I figured I’d drive to the Goodwill store today and hand over the goods. We also had three large boxes of things which we’d decided to get rid of, so it would be a large goods dump.
When I got to the store, I drove up the alley beside it to go to the back of the store, which is where they prefer you to drop stuff off at. When I got back there, I couldn’t pull in to where I needed to be: there were two large Goodwill Industries trucks there. So, I backed up to the front door. I had my toddler with me, and, not wanting to unload him and carry in a ton of stuff, I turned the van off and stepped in the front door of the building. There were two workers there; I asked one of them if they’d mind bringing out one of their big carts, because I had a lot of things to donate. She looked at me, paused momentarily as if weighing as to whether or not she wanted to put forth such effort, then shook her head.
“Pull around back, they’ll unload it there.”
“I can’t,” I say, “there are two large trucks back there; my vehicle won’t fit into the area.”
At this point the other lady turned around. “Go out onto the road on the other side of the building, you can pull in there.” No, I can’t, I thought, but I left anyway. It was clear they didn’t want to bother, so I figured I might as well check the other side just to make sure. Sure enough, when I got around there, the other truck was blocking that entrance as well. I ended up coming back home; I’m going to take it elsewhere in a bit.
I guess I’m just a bit surprised by the attitude. Goodwill Industries exists to make jobs for folks who can’t find work elsewhere. Furthermore, donations are what keeps said people employed. You’d think they’d be a little more willing to bring in the stuff I’m giving them. Guess not.
I’m sure the Salvation Army joint here will take it.
some people dont have a full understanding of how the program works. Kudos to you for not blowing up! WOO!
I had a similar experience lately, calling a centre for the homeless, pointing out someone was in distress. “They can come over if they want to”, they said, “we’re not authorized to do anything else”. When I told them all that person needed was a blanket and some hot food (I knew this was the case from actually talking to him), they hung up. So me and my neighbour brought some soup and a sleeping bag over ourselves. It’s unbelievable.
I see my wife and I aren’t the only ones
. (We just finished giving away a ton of old computer equipment and software.)
This may sound odd, but you may also want to ask the local church. Often times they’ll use the stuff they get on missionary trips or, more importantly, to work within local socaial programs. (I’m in Fort Lauderdale, and the Calvary Chapel church here does a TON of this, which is why my wife and I donate to them before anyone else. I don’t always agree with their teachings, but those guys do a lot of good around here.)
Jessy: Heh, thanks. My feathers were certainly ruffled, but I suppose I kept my cool.
Nils: That’s terrible! I can’t believe they hung up on you because you said the person needed a blanket and some hot food. I’m glad I can say though, that the homeless shelter here isn’t like that. We donate a lot of stuff to the shelter as well, and the lady who runs it is extremely nice.
Gnorb: Yeah, we’d had enough of the messiness. Too much stuff in too small of an area. Thanks for the input, I’ll check around and see if any of the churches can use it. We’d give it to the church my mom attends, but I’m fairly sure they don’t have a clothes pantry-type thing.
Yeah. You know your stuff sucks when Goodwill doesn’t even want it.
I have to say that I don’t see why a shelter, which is already doing so much good, deserves criticism for not bringing stuff to each individual homeless person. There’s only so much they can do, and I’m sure your phone call was not the only such call they get. There are a lot of homeless people out there, but people willing to donate time, effort, and money are rare. I’m not criticizing you, because I don’t do enough myself. I’m just saying maybe it’s better not to judge too quickly.