The news is not encouraging. In fact, if you spend too much time watching the news about the fires in California and the number of people who are still struggling to survive after the floods las year in Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, you can feel completely helpless. Even as firefighters announce that they are making headways on containing the Camp Fire, there are devastating pictures of entire neighborhoods, and sometimes cities that have been completely destroyed.
If you are feeling helpless as you continue to watch the news about hundreds of people who are still reported as missing in these latest California fires, you might feel moved to see what you can do to benefit those families who are missing loved ones and the firefighters who have been working for weeks. One way that you can do something that can help you feel empowered you might consider making American Red Cross donations. And while you may have been in the habit of giving both clothes and household items to Red Cross pickup centers, these latest developments might encourage you to also make monetary donations.
Clothing Donation Centers Offer an Easy Way for Americans to Keep Wearable Textiles Out of Landfills
Even when the clothes that you give to Red Cross pickup centers are not of the highest quality, these efforts can help keep items out of already crowded landfills. The textiles that are not used as clothing can be given to recycling centers that can repurposed. Consider some of these other facts and figures about the many ways that both your monetary gifts and donations to Red Cross pickup centers can offer:
- Your donation to a selected charity is tax deductible for the value of the items you donate.
- Americans throw away an average of 10 pounds of clothes per person every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- 70% of people in the U.S. give to charity every year.
- 3% of American income is given to charities every year.
- $666.1 billion is annual contributed to the U.S. economy by non-profit organizations.
- The American Red Cross provides relief for families and communities in the form of blankets, food, blood, and shelter 24 hours a day, for 365 days a year.
The news today can be too much to handle at times, but if you find a way to empower yourself through donating to others you can have something to look forward to even on the worst news days.
