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Hi Chicagoist (waves frantically)!
As a middle class American woman, I naturally own way, way, way too much stuff. So I'm working on getting rid of some. I'm on a purge trajectory!
Here's my problem. While I'm really good at pulling clothes out of my closet & putting them in a bag to be gotten rid of, I'm not so good at actually bringing the bags to charity. Mostly because I have no idea where to take them. I'd rather not have them picked up, because I'm in an apartment building, and it would be a pain to coordinate. I'm in Logan Square, & would like to find some place close to home.
So, where do Chicagoist readers take their clothing & other items they want to donate?
Many thanks! (tip of the hat)
Rocketslide
Hello, Rocketslide!
We're hearing that the time for change is now, and that includes purging your life of too much stuff. We just recently moved, and managed to get rid of so many things we're a little confused as to where everything went. What's the opposite of a pack rat?
There are plenty of great places in Chicago to donate your things, and it's a nice sort of win-win situation in terms of giving to a charity and cleaning out your closets (and hopefully not buying too much more stuff once you browse around). Quite a few of those places will let you schedule appointments to have the stuff picked up at your place -- but we understand that's not what you're looking to do at all.
Specifically for Logan Square, your options seem pretty limited if you don't want to drive too far out of the neighborhood. We did find a resale shop that's attached to the Infant Welfare Society of America, the Infant Welfare Auxiliary at 3600 W. Fullerton (773-782-5041). They accept donations of clothing, small household items, and linens. The organization provides "community-based health care to uninsured and underserved children and women who would otherwise lack access to basic medical services." They provide dental, medical, gynecological, and mental health services as well as educational programs.
If you want to travel outside of Logan Square, here are some other ideas:
- The Brown Elephant, (3651 N. Halsted, 773-549-5943; 5404 N. Clark, 773-271-9382; 217 Harrison in Oak Park, 708-445-0612), supporting Howard Brown Health Center, "one of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) healthcare organizations."
- Cornerstone Community Outreach (4628 N. Clifton, 773.303.0119) has a free store for the clients of its homeless shelter, job training programs, and other educational and social programs.
- Sarah's Circle (4750 N. Sheridan, Suite 220, 773-728-1014) accepts donations of clothing for women and children to clothe the women at its women's social service agency.
- White Elephant Resale Shop (2380 N. Lincoln Ave, 773-883-6184), which supports the non-profit Children's Memorial Hospital.
Wherever you drop off your goods, keep in mind that different places have different donation guidelines and things they will accept. Also, no one wants your old underwear, your stinky and dirty and completely ripped up clothes, and random objects you're just trying to get rid of that no one would possibly want. And keep anything explosive or dangerous out of that donation box while you're at it.
Also, in the effort to keep things out of the landfills, don't forget resources like Craigslist and Freecycle to give away things you can't donate (again, just toss the old underwear).
Where do you take your old clothes?
Image via thisvintagechica
Cleaning out the closets? Need some advice? Email ask(at)chicagoist(dot)com.
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Salvation Army drop off at Clybourn and Ashland. Big parking lot and the drop off is open later than the actual store is.
...on Sundays, too.
I used to live right next to Village Thrift in Roscoe Village. Used to.. I moved last week. While moving I went through and had a ton of stuff to donate and they wouldn't take it. They said I had to donate to AMVETS. Has anyone heard of this? My friend said she sees the AMVETS trucks by Village Thrift all the time. Does this mean that people are donating to a charity, Village Thrift is getting the donated items for free and then selling them for 100% profit? Seems shady. My friend said she heard the owner of Village Thrift owns a private plane.
In Evanston, the Salvation Army store on the corner of Chicago & Kedzie serves a diverse community. It's a good give & take place; after dropping off clothes I browse the books, films & CDs.
i'm lazy. freecycle is the way to go; the people come and pick the stuff up! and you can just say - saturday at blah. sometimes, it doesn't work out or people don't show, but for me it's worth not having to get an igo car...
You can go to the Boys and Girls Club on Palmer, just west of Kedzie. There's a blue box out front for donations that I used for my own closet cleaning activities last week. :)
@Rachel Bowden: they probably buy items in bulk from AMVETS and then sell them for profit.
Donate 'em to the woman in the "Authentically Brazillian" ad. Jeez. First that crotch-tweaking kid in American Apparel, now this. Back to Firefox.
Does the Salvation Army still make checks out to the husband if a married woman works for them? At least, they're super homophobic.
Bottomless Closet if you're getting rid of things that would be decent office work clothes. Also shoes: pumps, flats ('cause we all know how many shoes the average middle class American woman has).
Anything that would work for a business casual or formal office environment(just not jeans & tennies).
The organization supports women, mostly single mothers who have their degrees now, and are coming off of public assistance in learning how to present themselves to obtain and keep decent paying jobs.
"Donate 'em to the woman in the "Authentically Brazillian" ad. Jeez."
wrong answer.