Lots of people get Veterans Day off, making 2019’s observance into a three-day weekend. You can use some of that extra time to visit a retired veteran in a retirement home, or write a letter to a current service member. You can volunteer to help a veteran neighbor with their fall yardwork (as this blogger plans to do), or weed out some of your old, unused clothing and household items and donate them to ClothingDonations.org, simultaneously helping fund veterans programs around the country while streamlining your space. However you choose to observe the holiday, the nation’s veterans appreciate your support!
Tag: help a veteran
Thrift Your Way to a Festive Fall
One of the best things to do as fall begins is get ahead on upcoming events on the cheap. Thrift stores stocked with donations from ClothingDonations.org can be a valuable resource for many fall events. Need a vintage dress for homecoming? Thrift it. Building a scarecrow for your fall festival? There is no place better than the thrift to find colorful, inexpensive clothing that can be stuffed with straw. Need a creative Halloween costume, or some ideas for one? Go directly to the thrift! Your purchases will fund valuable programs that help thousands of the nation’s veterans and their families.
Thrift-Store Halloween Costume Ideas
Stuck deciding on a Halloween costume? Lots of classic looks are easy to source at thrift stores supplied by generous donations to ClothingDonations.org. Thrifty, easy-to-assemble ideas for women from Ecouterre include “Sockhop Sweetie” (pleated skirt, pink sweater), “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (chic black sheath dress, oversized sunglasses), “Hamburglar” (black-and-white striped shirt, black mask, fast-food burger), and “Valley Girl” (plaid blazer, oversized phone). Just walk into the thrift and let the inspiration strike; not only will you soon have a one-of-a-kind costume, you’ll be helping the nation’s veterans with your purchases.
Building Upon the Benefits of Decluttering
The Organizing Blog has often extolled the many virtues of decluttering in streamlining your space and building your overall well-being — and offered plenty of targeted advice on many aspects of the topic.
We have also made it easy to get rid of the extra junk that we’ve helped you clear out of your closets, basements and garages by contacting ClothingDonations.org for convenient, tax-deductible pickups throughout the year.
But you may not yet be aware of what happens to your donations and the ways in which they help the nation’s veterans. Reducing clutter is reward enough, but your donations are crucial to programs that help veterans throughout the country.
When you donate to ClothingDonations.org, the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) coordinates pickup. VVA is a national veterans service organization that’s funded mostly though fundraising activities and membership fees.
The association’s primary source of funding is the resale of items donated to ClothingDonations.org. VVA picks up your generous donations and resells them in bulk to qualified, privately owned thrift-store operators, who in turn sell the used goods to bargain-shoppers.
Money from resale goes directly to local, state and national programs designed to help VVA’s more than 75,000 members, other veterans in need and their families. They help throw chapter get-togethers, build memorials to those who gave their lives in service, send veterans’ grandchildren to college and more.
Proceeds from your donations assist veterans nationwide in accessing guaranteed government benefits, affordable housing and health care. They help veterans cope with problems such as Agent Orange exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse.
On a national level, VVA uses the funds to advocate for legislation supporting veterans such as the Blue Water Navy Act. In short, all funds garnered from donation pickups help veterans continue to be active and vital members of the communities in which they live.
So, the next time you schedule a pickup with ClothingDonations.org, you can feel doubly good. Your simple act — decluttering — will not only improve your situation, but will also improve the lives of thousands of veterans in your community and others throughout the country.
We make it easy to #ThankAVeteran and give something back!
Patriotic Craft Ideas for the Fourth
You may not have time to go all-out with Independence Day happening midweek this year, but you can still bring a few crafty touches to your home to make it more patriotic — and the local secondhand store will be a valuable source of materials. You can thrift a few mason jars to create Fourth of July lanterns, paint a patriotic shutter or create a clothespin wreath to celebrate the red, white and blue, Country Living suggests. More patriotic still, buying your craft materials at thrift stores supplied by donations to ClothingDonations.org helps fund programs benefiting the nation’s veterans.