Donating Directly?

Someone was just telling me that they donated a lot of theirs to the Office of Children Youth and Family. She said that when children are removed from homes that they like to give them a stuffed animal to help them through the rough time.

This sounds like what you're looking for.

I'd hold onto them for a little while. There's going to be a whole lot of little kids in Texas who will be looking for toys and stuffed animals to replaces the ones they've lost to flooding.

With the floods and damage and destruction in Texas, many places are accepting gently used toys and household goods. Call your local radio or tv stations, or look on their websites. Here in Austin there are several collection places that are accepting clean household items, clothing and toys, and the donations are available to the victims directly.

Many places such as Goodwill will throw stuffed animals away that don't fit specific standards. Hospitals have to adhere to even stronger/sterile standards. You might looking up Women's shelters in your area where kids often have nothing but the clothes on their backs and would really love to have some toys and stuffed animals to play with....not to mention their mom's who could use a few things too....clothes, combs, brushes, travel size toiletries etc. (dollar stores are great)

Thanks for being thoughtful...please keep us posted!

Check with your local police/fire departments. Oftentimes they will take donated new & gently used animals to be able to give to children when responding to emergencies. T.

Personally I donate everything to the smaller Thrift Stores, not just Goodwill. I have also posted on my facebook page if anyone knows of a needy family that could use _____. I did that when I downsized my kitchen and had a lot of plus size clothing. My local friends have a lot of contacts so I was able to give those directly to people that I knew needed it. Good luck.

I also prefer to give items directly to those who can use them.

When I did a massive decluttering last fall, I talked to our Rabbi and asked if he knew of anyone who might want or need all of the toys, books, games, and art materials. They were all in excellent condition. He knew of a single mom with a young son and put me in contact with the grandmother. I filled my SUV with the items and met the grandmother at our temple. She took everything she could fit in her car, and then we made plans for her to come to our house and get the second round. She was so grateful that her grandson would have these things. She is also a teacher and took some things for her class.

I still had more to donate, so I searched craigslist and found a mom and little 4 year-old boy who had been abandoned by the lousy husband/father. They had nothing. It was right before the holidays, and they were being moved from the shelter into a new apartment. I gathered the rest of the toys and got some household items together and brought them to their new apartment. She and her little boy were so happy.

It's great when people can get things they need directly, especially when they don't have funds to buy or transportation to get to the thrift shops.

I have to warn, though, you must be very careful when dealing with craigslist. I felt comfortable with this arrangement because a case manager or someone working with this woman from the shelter was helping her and putting up the ads. When I went to deliver the items, my husband knew exactly where and when i was going.

If you belong to a religious organization, start there. The priest, pastor, or rabbi will know of people in need. You could also contact a women's shelter. Surely, there are many women and children in need who are transitioning from shelters to apartments who would love your gently used items.

Call a local Catholic church. In our area they are affiliated with homes for teen moms, homeless shelters and homeless family apartments. Donations go directly to the residents. You will want to call first and see what their current needs are.

Toys for tots and Blue Santa type programs will take them and give them directly, usually at Christmas.

Please understand many Organizations sell items because they prefer cash, so they can give people in need, exactly what they need. And cleaning and storing all of those donations takes a lot of space and time..

Many give to preschools and daycares.

I recall one mom dropping off her child's kitchen set to the Kindergarten classroom. It was nice gender neutral color and very appreciated.

I donate a lot of things to the women's shelter because many of the moms show up with their children with only the clothes on their backs.

The items and clothes are used and appreciated by the people in the program.

I also agree with Fire and Police Dept. because they do use them in emergency situations with children

Also check out the Children's hospital.

You are very kind, P.!!

We gave our stuffed animals to the local police department. When they have to remove kids from homes, they have something to give them to bring some level of comfort.

I had a heck of a time placing my stuffed animals since no one takes them (sanitary rules)! I found some charities that supposedly accepted them for fire victims who lost their homes in mail, but never got a hold of people through the websites....I ended up putting them all out on a table with a "FREE" sign and they got taken right away, hopefully by people with kids who could benefit..

As for thrift stores, yes that's typical. Even though the actual money supports the thrift shop's causes, you are still selling the toys cheaply to people in need, so its not a total waste charity-wise.

Otherwise yard sale is an option.

Look for an agency serving the immigrant population or getting the homeless into their first apartments.

We have several organizations like that. One serves immigrants, especially from Latin America, another serves a heavy Brazilian population. They have a standard food pantry, but they also have a household pantry, with clothing, toys, housewares, even furniture. Approved families (meaning those who are definitely destitute) can come in and "shop" for free.

Call your local coalition on the homeless too - see what they have or where they can refer you for people transitioning into housing.

A great resource, actually, is you local Congressman or state rep/Senator - they are usually aware of who's in your district who is reputable as they are also providing constituent services.

I think the big organizations that you describe are easier for a lot of donors - they just take everything and make it available to anyone. I have a problem with some of them, not others. Depends on whether they serve everyone, or if they discriminate (e.g. I don't give to the Salvation Army because their services aren't open to all).

If you are particularly trying to serve children, try Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Around here, they do regular pickups at your house, give you a receipt, and while much of the stuff is going into their stores, their target population is children of various ages.

You could also check on services for battered women and their children - they often leave their homes with nothing. If there is a local organization serving them, they can tell you if they need toys. They won't give you the address of a shelter, obviously, because those locations must remain secret. But I have met their volunteers in a central location and loaded my stuff into their cars. If you can't find an organization directly, call your local police department and ask for an officer who deals with the abused women. Tell them it's not an emergency but you are looking to connect with an organization that may need donations.

Somebody said daycare...perfect idea! I forgot I did the same thing when my son outgrew his toddler stuff. They were super thankful. I'm talking about the affordable neighborhood daycares, not the overpriced, what I call "rich" ones, chain daycares. That's the best idea I think too.

Nowadays, it seems that many organizations only want NEW toys.. We had a bunch of lightly used, if at all, baby clothes and a church turned us away.. they didn't want them and told us, we only accept NEW items...
I would call a shelter and ask them if they want the items OR if anything, I like the Salvation Army because they offer jobs to those in their ARC recovery program who sorts the items for the store. Granted, they sell the stuff, but at least in turn, they will put some of the money back into the program and create jobs for people, including those as mentioned who go through their arc program.. Also, they offer food programs, etc.. whereas, some people open thrift shops and take all the profits for themselves..

I would look into the women's transitional projects and/or shelters. There are a lot of kids who leave their home with nothing and they wouldn't mind a gently loved toy.

We have a number of churches in our area (Methodist) that operate a "Free Store" and when I was in college, I used to volunteer at a Jewish Community Center that sent clothes to Russia for the poor.

Here in Atlanta, there is a big Children's Hospital. The accept donations. They are really specific about donations. Especially for kids that are in "clean" rooms. They must be new with tags or dry cleaned with tags.

We donate them to our church and to our local woman's shelter.

Google Children's Hospital's near you and find out what they need and what their requirements are for stuffed animal donations.

Mission Metroplex, based in Arlington gives donated items directly to needy people. They may have a satellite location in Fort Worth, too, I don't know. They might be able to pick up your donations. I've been told by their staff that whenever they get furniture donations, it usually goes straight from where the pick it up to the home of a needy person.