by Mary M. Redoutey

Created on: February 08, 2010   Last Updated: February 09, 2010

After the earthquake in Haiti, the charities that were involved in providing assistance to those who were involved in the disaster requested that people give money rather than attempting to donate goods. This was because of the distance involved and because there was a desire that the aircraft used for the disaster be reserved for things that really mattered like medical staff and not piles of old clothing and tennis shoes.

It probably is a good idea for people to  give money after large disasters, but there are times when giving money will not do... there are instances where goods are indeed better than money when donating to charities.

I am  thinking of charities like the Second Harvest  here in the United States which takes in donations of food from restaurants and from grocery stores and which then distributes these food items to non-profit agencies like domestic violence shelters, foster care homes, etc.  This Charity relies on the donation of food stuffs to meet the needs of the people who are dependent on it for food. And the restaurants and stores rely on the charity to help them decrease their wastage of food stuffs... Everyone benefits from this arrangement.

I am also thinking about the Red Cross which relies on people to donate blood to meet the need of people who are injured or going through surgery and needing blood. The Red Cross also sometimes relies on donations of water, ice, food,  blankets, etc.  from companies and individuals etc. when there are disaster situations like earthquakes and fires which are large enough to require additional assistance from members of the community.

In the Toys for Tots program, people every year go to their local fire stations, government buildings and shopping malls and donate toys which are then given to needy children and to children who are hospitalized. This is one of the charities that really warms the hearts of most people and adds to the Christmas spirit for millions of people while providing delight to millions of  needy young children.

Goodwill  and other charities rely on the donation of used goods like furniture, collectibles, books, clothing, etc. to provide jobs to the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, physically challenged, veterans and others that it hires. The donations are then sold at the agencies  discount thrift stores which are rather neat to explore and which provide low income and thrifty people with ways to obtain low cost goods.

Sperm banks rely on men to donate semen as without the donation of semen there would be no sperm banks. Eye clinics rely on the donation of old eyeglasses often to meet the needs of the poor who might not be able to afford to purchase new eyeglasses otherwise. Public Libraries often rely on the donation of used books to use for the library itself and also to be resold by their Friends of the Library assistance groups for the upkeep of the library.

In many instances, too many to itemize here, there is a need for goods to be donated to charities.

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