I'm doing some pre-Purim Pesach prep - cleaning rooms in which hametz never enters. The rooms where hametz enters will be thoroughly cleaned (de-hametzed) just before the grand-daughter and her parents arrive from Israel.
And now I'll once again have a young person to help me search for hametz - yea!!
Anyway, I found a suit that was too big and a couple of jackets that are "a little" tight.
I heard there are programs that accept donations of "gently used" professional clothing for use by people "transitioning" from unemployable to employable status and have a need business apparel.
I know if I gave the clothing a Goodwill, Salvation Army, or similar organization, the apparel would be sold and the money, I'm sure, put to good use, but the people who need, but cannot afford, the apparel are out of luck. That is not what I want for my "no longer my size" clothing.
Naturally I went on line to find someone or some organization that could use the wrong-size clothing.
I found a number of places to donate WOMEN's apparel by doing a Dogpile search. (Dogpile is a search engine, similar to Google, but a favorite of librarians.)
Finding someone to accept MEN's apparel was a different story.
According to About.com - and I had to go to two "About" sites to get the information - there are two - 2 - organizations that accept men's clothing:
* Career Gear http://www.careergear.org/
* Men's Warehouse http://www.menswearhouse.com/shop/Home_12751_12001_-1_N_
Career Gear makes it plain that donated clothing will, if suitable, be given to a person otherwise unable to afford interview clothing. It accepts clothing for men and for women. Career Gear has locations in Baltimore, MD 21217, Houston, TX 77036, Jersey City, NJ, Miami, FL 33136, New Haven, CT 06510, New York, NY 10271 (National HQ), San Antonio, Texas 78209, and Washington, DC 20002. Contact information for each location is on the Career Gear Web site (ibid.)
No location convenient? Career Gear allows donors to mail clothing to the New York office.
Men's Warehouse also accepts "gently used" clothing, but apparently only during select times of the year. Men's Warehouse accepts clothing for men and, despite its name, for women, too. (See http://www.menswearhouse.com/shop/ContentAttachmentView_-1_12751_12001____MWAboutNSDhome.html for donation information.)
From Men's Warehouse:
"Men's Warehouse does accept any gently used business apparel during our National Suit Drive Event. We do not accept any donations unless this event is taking place, but we will be more than happy to provide you with information about some of the non-profit organizations that we provide our donations to. If you would like this information, please contact your local Men's Warehouse store.
"This year, we will be holding our Suit Drive during the month of July. For more information about this special event, please click on the link below:"
