Why is it so hard to give away late husband's clothes?

TomsMom

Errata wrote: »

How about contacting Crisis at Christmas local to you or your daughter?

Thanks for that. This is what I was looking for, charities that deal directly with homeless people. There seems to be a Crisis Skylight at Birmingham so I can get my daughter to contact them to see if they are interested in the clothes.

missile

TomsMom wrote: »

As explained in my previous post, we don't have one. I live fairly rural that is why my DD is trying to find somewhere in the West Midlands.

You said in the post preceding mine that you did not want to donate them locally

my daughter was looking for somewhere near to where she lives.

I was suggesting nearest to your daughter :A

magpiedawn

When my mum died i took all her clothes etc along to the local care home, and they were glad of everything i had to offer.Sometimes older people for whatever reason need extra clothes when they go into care or respite, maybe thats something you might consider.

Newly_retired

Emmaus has a number of communities which give a new start to homeless people. Not sure if there is one near you or your daughter but they also have shops which sell items to support their Companions as they call them.

TomsMom

Newly_retired wrote: »

Emmaus has a number of communities which give a new start to homeless people. Not sure if there is one near you or your daughter but they also have shops which sell items to support their Companions as they call them.

What a shame, there are only two in the Midlands, Coventry and Rugby and that's too far for DD to go. I'll try the Birmingham Crisis Skylight as that's about an hour away from her and she could manage that. The only one in Wales is in S.Wales and I'm in N.Wales.

Biggles

I would echo what other posters have said about hospice shops.

I took my late wife's clothes, half a dozen big black bags or more, to the local hospice shop (it seemed fair, they had treated her very well) and they took the lot, no questions asked.

I went in some weeks later with a bag of shoes, same again, no problem.

Savvy_Sue

TomsMom wrote: »

I live in a very small, fairly rural community and I would rather the clothes weren't used here (don't want to see them being worn around here if that makes sense).

That absolutely makes sense: I've taken most of Dad's clothes away for Mum, but as I am a compulsive charity shopper I made sure they went to shops I don't regularly go to, because some of his things were quite distinctive and it would have given me a start to find them on sale when I was browsing.

You've had some good suggestions, I'm going to make a not very useful one in the hope that someone else knows what to google for you! I believe there's a scheme which helps people in need of smart clothes for interview, and they might be interested, particularly in the shirts and suits. Maybe The Big Issue will know about this? (just thinking aloud here, and not on a very reliable connection to google myself.) I don't suppose you have a local BI in your area, but your DD may be nearer one of their regional offices.

However I can understand why charities working with homeless people have to be a bit 'picky' about what they can take: they do tend to have limited storage space, and I can well understand that they'd need trousers more than shirts. I think most men have far far more shirts in their wardrobes than trousers, but each charity would probably only give away one 'set' of clothing at a time. Plus, while I wouldn't say that young men don't wear shirts, I'd say they do tend to go for tee-shirts and sweat-shirts more than shirts. And since the homeless population tends to be younger rather than older, it does limit the possible outlets for shirts.

Mind you, the Salvation Army doesn't just deal with homeless people, they can also be involved after emergencies, eg when a family lose all their belongings. So some branches might have different policies.

I hope you can find an 'outlet' which pleases you. I do understand that these things matter at such times!

WhiteHorse

TomsMom wrote: »

I really don't understand why they have such restrictions.

Some restrictions are sensible and practical.

I have also run into a lot of charity shop jobsworths who have made rules up just to make themselves feel important. A lot of people who work in charity shops seem to think they are doing you a favour.

roddydogs

Charity shops may take all the clothes, but they then sift out the stuff they think they can sell probably only about 5%. The rest is bagged and sold to dealers, so its still not actually wasted.

scheming_gypsy

TomsMom wrote: »

she rang the Salvation Army who said they would take trousers and coats but not shirts. She rang another one (not sure who it was) who said they would take the trousers but not coats.

I really don't understand why they have such restrictions..

Are you sure they have restrictions, and not just a huge stock pile of the things they don't want to take.