Clothes Banks ?

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 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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Perhaps ask a minister at a local church.

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

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.

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

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),

What a lovely idea Puzzler. That is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to find.I must look a bit farther afield.

Our usual charity shops are closed and the bags have stopped coming through the letterbox. Just before lockdown I took some jeans, joggers, coats and jumpers to the Car Wash where I go regularly. It is young European men and girls who are the staff. Some of the men have brought girlfriends here with them too, and they were very happy to accept the clothes (I checked with the Boss man first). In both lockdowns the hand car washes have been forced to close. I wonder how they have managed for money. I’ll be there with my car as soon as it’s up and running again.

I recently had a letter from Age UK, as I have donated to their local shop in the past, saying they are in need of all donations that they can sell, and as soon as their shops re-open after lockdown they will let me know. I see they are also selling lots of things online at the moment as well, a lot of it new.

You could try Freecycle but some of them aren't working during the lockdown.
I collect used clothes at my local church in Blackburn to take to a place where they are weighed in and we divide the money raised in this way between 2 charities.

My local Waitrose has two bins- one is for food for the local food bank, the other is for clothes, books etc. for a local RSPCA. Both do very well. For me it is a boon, I just pop the plastic bag in the RSPCA bin and because it is there 7 days a week, I do not overfill the bin.

my experience

Also, our local supermarket has a Salvation Army collection bin type thing.

I guess your experience is much the same as yours MissAdventure. I think what I am looking for is something like Maggiemaybe suggests: a group that helps the local homeless.

Our local pre school and primary school do the " bags for schools" thing. I believe they are paid by weight, but there are restrictions on what they won't take, for example pillows, cushions, embroidered work was etc.

I find it very useful when having a clear out.

I was really disappointed not to get any response, anywhere..