Spring Cleaning for a Good Cause
Who isn't excited for spring? Get a head-start on your Spring cleaning this year by clearing out your closet for a great cause. Now is the perfect time to declutter your home and donate your unwanted items – someone in your community will benefit and bring new life to your donation.
Latrice Clayborne, MERS/Goodwill district manager and retail’s Spring cleaning expert, has great tips and tricks to make your spring cleaning quick and enjoyable. Here are just a few to help spring cleaning get underway:
- With tax season upon us, remember that MERS/Goodwill donors can claim tax reductions. As you sort your items, use this guide to determine the value of your donations for your tax returns. Remember to get a receipt after you donate.
- Turn all hanging clothes backwards. Reverse an item to the correct direction once it is worn. After six months, donate any clothing still backwards; if you haven’t worn it by then, you probably never will.
- Remember that MERS/Goodwill recycles your donations that do not sell, so think twice before pitching an item you think is no good; the revenue from your donations – regardless if they sell or not – will help people in your community find jobs.
When you donate to MERS/Goodwill, you are helping your neighbors find good jobs and are providing employment opportunities to individuals with mild to profound disabilities. To learn more about MERS/Goodwill donation process, please visit: http://www.mersgoodwill.org/
Barb Kruse
9:20 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Items are NOT recycled! They go into a crusherand then a landfill. I have asked for things ijn the gurney, can you take it back inside so I can buy it? NO...Do Not Donate to goodwill. Barb Kruse
Rich Pope
9:31 pm on Friday, March 15, 2013
Thrift shopping rocks!
Jane
8:04 am on Saturday, March 16, 2013
I agree with Barb. I have seen no indication that Goodwill recycles anything. Go look at the dumpster behind the Brentwood Goodwill sometime. I quit donating to the organization when I noticed that the dumpster was full of things that looked perfectly good. Perhaps they weren't, but when I e-mailed the organization to ask, I never got a response indicating either way. Now I donate to other organizations. Perhaps they chuck a lot too, but at least they come to my door to pick it up.
Loranna Pyles
12:01 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013
Hi Barb and Jane,
Thank you for your comments. It’s hard to say “No Thank You” to a donation when our operating funds are realized through the sale of donated materials. However, items are refused for some very good reasons: Some items are not recyclable or contain hazardous waste. Still others cost more to transport, repair or refurbish than they can be sold for in our stores. Our store managers and donation center attendants may decline a donation if, in their judgment, it is not in clean, sell-able condition.