Charitable Events
Find a local charity that needs clean, gently used clothing for their cause. Your residents are already being asked for donations from every avenue possible. Give them an opportunity to get rid of some of their extra items they may have lying around the house and make room for the new gifts they will be receiving from loved ones! I recommend a drop-box, and guidelines to make sure items have been recently cleaned. Your staff may need to drop off the items to your charity weekly! Depending on the size of your site, this could mean A LOT of stuff. Keep the clothing/blanket drive as long as you feel you can collect donations. I've implemented this at several sites, and we've always had a great turn out. Some of the local charities that we partnered with were surprising - one year a local food shelf accepted clothing/blankets, another year, we had a local non-profit fashion-related scholarship fund pick up our clothing drive items to sell at their annual garage sale in March. Another year, our clothing drive went to a local church that operated a homeless shelter. Don't limit your local charity options - there are tons out there that need gently used clothing!