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Charities

Clothes Banks ?

(91 Posts)
Greenfinch Sat 28-Nov-20 16:28:32

Do clothes banks exist in a similar way to food banks ? Our local charity shops do not seem to be welcoming donations at the moment and I was wondering if there was any way I could give away surplus clothing. I have got a lot of good quality children's and teenage clothes and don't just want to bin them when I am sure there is a great need. I am unable to locate one locally.

sandelf Mon 30-Nov-20 13:18:16

This might help traid.org.uk/clothes-reuse-and-recycling/

Greenfinch Mon 30-Nov-20 13:10:27

A lot of good suggestions here.I will read through again and see which is viable for me. We don't have a Salvation Army shop but we can put them in the clothes bank at Tesco's. I will sort the clothes into sizes and have another go at Freecyle as at least they would be collected , but unless things have changed, I don't expect many takers in this area.

grandtanteJE65 Mon 30-Nov-20 13:02:35

OP, have you asked the Salvation Army or other church run charities?

In Denmark they hand out clothing to those who need them in Germany the Knights of St John of Malta do so and run soup kitchens. Caritas provides clothing too.

A local soup kitchen or homeless shelter may not have the capacity to hand out or store clothing, but they ought to know who does.

Celeste22 Mon 30-Nov-20 12:57:44

In The Salvation Army, we are always grateful for donations of clothes etc at our charity shops

cornergran Mon 30-Nov-20 12:48:02

Gumtree or Freecycle work well here if you can cope with the messing around that sometimes happens over collection. I just leave things in our porch. I have found the Salvation Army here welcome donations to be dropped at their Church office if the charity shop is closed. They will take just about anything that is fabric including towels and bedding. Also very keen to accept strong footwear. Otherwise most supermarkets seem to have a clothes bank of some sort as does our council recycling centre.

Sweetchile Mon 30-Nov-20 12:45:08

The church in our next village takes school uniforms and clothes from our area you could try your local churches

Onthenaughtystep1 Mon 30-Nov-20 12:34:55

You can advertise on Gumtree for free. I often advertise under “freebies” and have met lots of really nice people.
I have also picked up some great stuff for example a huge cold frame and another time bags and bags of perlite ( to add to compost).

Paperbackwriter Mon 30-Nov-20 12:27:24

If you've got a local NextDoor online link in your area, you could mention the clothes on there. Someone will be happy to take them, I'm sure, especially if bundled age-appropriately or in sizes.

ALANaV Mon 30-Nov-20 12:23:45

We have two local banks ...large containers in car parks ...BUT they are full and no more can be taken ....people are blaming this on lockdown when wardrobes were being sorted for the first time in a long time and now there are surplus clothes no one can take ...although the demand is still there....one bank is for the Salvation Army and another for a charity shop .....I have some waiting to go ........

Vintagegirl Mon 30-Nov-20 11:56:42

I get good use out of those charity collections from my house. They come at incredibly early hours of morning. I leave items on my porch the night before with the coloured plastic bag cover stuck up high in window so visible over the car. Sometimes I add a cardboard box with more fragile items. It is inevitable that some items might not make it to the shelves of the charity shop. There is a huge percentage of clothing that is deemed unsuitable for resale for example.
But there is an industry in dealing with old material so not 'dumped'. I have been 'stung' by a dealer taking a lot of stuff from me via freecycle website... I answered a bogus plea for items for a person who had lost all in a fire. Same person had been to my house before so I sussed her out. But you can get to choose between contacts and pick a more likely person, a few clues in the email/message!

In the end 'stuff' is moved out of your life and space created for more to come in or to enjoy!

Kim19 Mon 30-Nov-20 11:48:59

In my area we have large pods not unlike bottle banks where clothes can be deposited and I think they are managed appropriately distributed by the Salvation Army. Come to think of it, they might be a good body to approach for help with this.

knspol Mon 30-Nov-20 11:48:17

I used to take clothes to a social services collection point and they only gave them out to people in need via DHSS but this place closed down in my area, maybe worth a call to them to see if anything similar exists in your local area.

pce612 Mon 30-Nov-20 11:32:40

The Salvation Army are good, or if not, Freecycle works.

Phloembundle Mon 30-Nov-20 11:26:54

We have all sorts of recycling containers.

Nannan2 Mon 30-Nov-20 11:21:09

I get annoyed at the plastic bags for collections that come, but they never come back to collect them!

Nannan2 Mon 30-Nov-20 11:19:46

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???hmm

Rosina Mon 30-Nov-20 11:18:45

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?

Nannan2 Mon 30-Nov-20 11:15:32

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

deanswaydolly Mon 30-Nov-20 11:09:50

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

jaylucy Mon 30-Nov-20 11:08:20

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.

Bijou Mon 30-Nov-20 11:07:37

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.

BassGrammy Mon 30-Nov-20 11:00:36

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)

GreyKnitter Mon 30-Nov-20 10:55:42

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?

TrendyNannie6 Mon 30-Nov-20 10:34:28

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

olliebeak Mon 30-Nov-20 10:30:23

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/