Here in the United States, charitable giving is hugely popular. In fact, the statistics that have been gathered on the subject more than back up this claim, showing that nearly three quarters (around 70%, to be just a little bit more precise) of all people in this country donate to charity at least once over the course of the typical year, amounting to about 3% of the collective amount that people earn over this same span of time, a mere 12 months.
Unfortunately, not everyone feels that they can give back – at least not when it comes to donating money. Far too many people in this country are struggling themselves, living paycheck to paycheck and working incredibly hard just to make ends meet. For these people and others like them, giving any amount to charity, even to a charitable organization that they would very much love to support, simply is not a possibility.
However, giving used clothing donations and other such American Red Cross donations like food and blankets can be one way to give back to your community without spending anything at all – or spending very little, in the case of American Red Cross donations like canned food and other necessities for life. Giving what is already in your home or in your closet in the form of American Red Cross donations and other such American Red Cross clothing donations is not only beneficial for the people who are on the receiving end of these donations, but for you yourself as well.
The environment also benefits as well when people donate clothes, such as in the case of American Red Cross donations. After all, the average person here in the United States now consumes greater amounts of clothing than ever before – up to nearly 70 garments and various articles of clothing per each and every year that passes us by. Unfortunately, this also means that up to ten pounds of clothing are thrown away per person each and every year as well, the vast majority of the clothes that we consume ending up in landfills and only further contributing to the growing waste problem seen here in the United States as well as all throughout the rest of the world too.
Donating our old clothing to a clothing donation center (perhaps one that provides American Red Cross donations but not necessarily) can help to prevent this. After all, it has been found that up to 100% of all used textiles can be donated instead of merely thrown away, even though it is also true that only around 45% of all donated clothing is actually worn again as clothing. This is because donated textiles that don’t go towards American Red Cross donations or other such direct uses can easily be repurposed and given new life in this way.
There are a few different ways in which this is seen. One use of donated textiles is to turn them into factory rags, something that is particularly common for textiles that are not of a high enough quality or in a good enough condition to be passed on to someone else for their original purpose. In addition to this, old and donated textiles are often used to stuff fabric as well, giving these old objects new life and effectively preventing them from ending up in a landfill somewhere, never to be seen again and harming our planet.
Of course, donating used clothing and making other such American Red Cross donations is hugely beneficial for the person who is donating as well. It feels good to give back to the world, and making charitable donations in such ways can actually help someone to declutter their home. After all, the typical home here in the United States holds about 300,000 objects at any given time. Being given the opportunity to reduce some of this clutter and send it on to someone who will use it is a chance that many of us would be happy to jump at – and, realistically, many of us can here in the United States, particularly when it comes to clothing!
