Clothes Banks ?

There are clothes banks, we have them in our Tesco car park and eldest DGS school has 2 in their car park. Alternatively try s brilliant app called Olio which allows you to post stuff for people to collect for free including food and clothes, yesterday we gave away some unwanted mugs, coffee pods (unopened) for the wrong machine bought by DH??‍♀️ And my grandsons nearly new trainers (grown out of too quickly),

Thanks jenpax. Had never heard of Olio so have just had a quick look. Seems like a very good idea.

Gosh Jenpax I had some past it’s best before date food items to give away and someone suggested olio but I didn’t know what it was as they didn’t explain. Now I do thanks to you. Sounds a great idea. I will pass it on to others.

Greenfinch I agree with you about Freecycle and Freegle. I still put stuff on those sites, but nothing that could be sold on.

About 3 years ago DH (finally) decided to dispose of the cheap and not particularly good violin he had learned to play on at school. As the quality of the instrument was poor and the case manky, he said it wasn't of a quality to auction or give to a charity shop so we freegled it.

We deal in antiques for a hobby and DH attended a small local auction a month later and among the Lots was his violin. It fetched £20. We learnt the lesson

My local Freecycle is doing a roaring trade both for taking and giving.

Perhaps ask a minister at a local church.

I looked around when DH died because I had a lot of his clothes that had hardly ever been worn. I found one or two local churches but they only ran a clothes banks three or four times a year and by the time I got organised Covid had hit and nothing was happening. In the end I put them all in the Salvation Army clothes bank in the local car park. I thought at least they'll do something useful with them.

Our local Waitrose, in addition to the Food Bank bin, also has a container for unwanted toiletries for women in refuges. I predict an increase in donations after Christmas.

Greenfinch

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply. I was really thinking of a place where people could come and choose clothes that would be useful to them ie people who really need them. I have tried Freecycle before but felt that the people who came for the clothes did not actually need them ( one was a local councillor )but were going to sell them on. Some were very choosy about what they took.I tried again last week with a pair of new football boots but there were no takers.

Anybody who sells things on that they have got through Freecycle could be prosecuted for fraud. The local councillor could have been passing on the clothes to a charity for all you know, and just because someone is a councillor does not mean that they are well off.
I, personally, do not hesitate to pass on my unwanted things to Freecycle and I have found new homes for a lot of things this past year: I really dislike it when someone makes unfounded remarks which could put people off donating to charity or finding new homes for things simply because they have doubts.

I’ve always thought of Freecycle etc as a way of recycling things and making sure they aren’t wasted, rather than a charity. Selling on isn’t in the spirit of it, but will always happen. Other than that, the income of anyone using the site seems irrelevant to me. Hats off to anyone who reuses and recycles.

Froglady, I was interested in your post where you say,

"Anybody who sells things on that they have got through Freecycle could be prosecuted for fraud"

Why? When you freely give something away, you don't give it with caveats. You are happy it is gone, the recipient is happy with their gain. So it is not worth bothering about, whether they keep it, or it gets sold. If there is cash to be made, surely you would try first? If you had the time and inclination.

I volunteer in a charity shop, and know there are some folk who buy, to sell on. Well, that's OK. We do not have the time to do this, or to store 'stuff' indefinitely.

Froglady I would never deter people from giving to charity. In fact I used to volunteer at a local charity and regularly donate to charity shops and that is why I am looking for an alternative outlet. I don't see Freecycle as a charity either but as a place to recycle. It is criticisms like this that put me off posting on GN

Greenfinch

Froglady I would never deter people from giving to charity. In fact I used to volunteer at a local charity and regularly donate to charity shops and that is why I am looking for an alternative outlet. I don't see Freecycle as a charity either but as a place to recycle. It is criticisms like this that put me off posting on GN

Sorry that my post has put you off posting but I took exception to you making comments that you felt people were using Freecycle to sell things on and that could put people off about using Freecycle; you didn't seem to have any proof that people were doing this?

Auntieflo

*Froglady*, I was interested in your post where you say,

"Anybody who sells things on that they have got through Freecycle could be prosecuted for fraud"

Why? When you freely give something away, you don't give it with caveats. You are happy it is gone, the recipient is happy with their gain. So it is not worth bothering about, whether they keep it, or it gets sold. If there is cash to be made, surely you would try first? If you had the time and inclination.

I volunteer in a charity shop, and know there are some folk who buy, to sell on. Well, that's OK. We do not have the time to do this, or to store 'stuff' indefinitely.

With Freecycle if I felt that people were selling things on, I wouldn't give things away on the site, I would take them to a charity instead. People buying at charity shops to sell on, that's fine but with Freecycle it's a given that the product is for your own use or friends, not to gain from. They make no bones about it that it would be fraud if people gained from what they obtained from Freecycle as that's not in the spirit of what it's been donated for.

There are usually swishing and swapping events here in London (not in lockdown) and you're welcome to donate without taking. I save anything that's very good quality for them.

This year, most people have had a good clear out so the charity shops are overwhelmed. Still, I'll store things for now and donate later - when it's died down a bit.

There are often requests for clothing on our local area facebook group from organisations thet help the homeless or run women's refuges. They are often willing to come and collect.

There's a Facebook-based organisation called C.L.O.U.D (Changing Lives On Your Doorstep) with most areas having their own 'branch' for people in need. Each area has a couple of Directors and somebody co-ordinates Offers/Needs to keep things fair.

There's also 'Freecycle' -https://my.freecycle.org/home/groups

'Freegle' is another one - www.ilovefreegle.org/

Yes they certainly exist few months ago I had visited ours putting half dozen bags in at the supermarket one

Had a message in our local website to say the the Round Table are accepting things again - please deliver to their back door. Wonder if it’s the same in other areas?

It depends where you live I think. There is a clothing bank operating in my area, Yorkshire, with numerous drop off points locally but I know they can’t take from further afield. I have just taken several bags of clothes and it’s good to know that they are going to people directly in need of them. If you can look at The Clothing Bank on Facebook, it will tell you if there are drop off points that are suitable (but only in Yorkshire I think)

Here in Norfolk we have started to get Charity bags through the letterbox again mainly Air Ambulance and breast cancer so maybe the rest of the country will follow.

TK Maxx used to have a bin in their stores for clothes that are no longer needed and they gave you a discount voucher for their store in return for your donation.
As all shops will be opening later this week, and according to their website, they are still doing it. Just ask one of the staff (don't give it to them ) and they will direct you where to put it.

There is a group on facebook called The Clothing Bank, it is in West Yorkshire and I collect for them.

There used to be clothes banks near supermarket/shops recycling but wether they're still going in pandemic I've no idea.

We get bags through the door fairly regularly asking for clothing and household textiles etc. usually to ''help starving children'. I did look into this, following up the address on the back of one of the bags, as a friend said they are a scam, to find that something like 5% of the proceeds is all that goes to the 'charity'. I would offer items to the Salvtion Army and Air Ambulance and so on, but it seems even with those that a company organises the collections and the charity gets a much smaller percentage of the proceeds. Better to hand it directly to the shops perhaps?

I think theres something on freecycle as a 'warning advice' about folk who take for free pretending they need them, then sell on ebay at an exorbitant price???