Kindness. It is the stuff you are supposed to throw around like confetti. As school district after school district first in the Omaha metropolitan area and then the rest of the state, kindness did seem to be falling from the sky. Prompted by the personal pain of one superintendent’s family over the suicide of their son, the kindness movement caught on quickly. You can hardly, for instance, walk into any school on any day and not see a student or staff member wearing their school district’s version of the kindness shirts. From drives for veterans donations to helping families in need after recent flooding, there are many times when the kindness movement impacted the area in positive ways.
We live in a time when there are many examples of situations and people who are anything but kind, so it is encouraging to see entire school districts, and communities, promoting a kindness initiative. Kindness, of course, is nothing new and it certainly should not be unusual that students are looking for ways to help and support their classmates.
Making Veterans Donations Can Help Families Make Ends Meet
Organizations that accept clothing donations can make a difference in the lives of many people who are not able to make it from one month to the next. Whether there are extra efforts being made because of community initiative on kindness or you are just looking for a way to make responsible use of items that you are no longer using, giving to groups that provide support for military families is always a step in the right direction.
As the nation continues to work toward better efforts at recycling, the average American now purchases 10 pounds of previously used clothing each year in the U.S. This is a statistic that keeps clothing out of landfills and provides many people with affordable options that they need. And while there are people in need across the country, there are some places that have greater need than others. For instance, Philadelphia has the worst poverty rate among the top 10 largest cities in the U.S. Whether you live in Philadelphia, Omaha, or any where else in the country, however, there are many people who could benefit from veterans donations. food pantry donations, and many other charitable platforms.
In 2007, an estimated $5.8 billion worth of clothing related donations were made to charity foundations in the U.S.
This amount of donations has contributed to the fact that more and more people are realizing the value of donating, rather than trashing, clothing and other textiles. In fact, the recovery rate for used clothing and textiles in the year 2011 was an estimated 15.3% in America.
You should not have to be a part of an official kindness movement to make a difference. Although there can be some real advantages to an entire community getting behind a movement, there are also many ways that you can make a difference by your self. Every time you tackle the organization of any space in your home, for instance, you can carefully consider the items that you no longer need. For many textiles, for instance, even linens that are not really of use in your home can be donated to local animal shelters where they can make use of these items.
As the nation continues to deal with a greater and greater divide between the have’s and the have not’s there are far more people who are depending on the generosity of others to make it from one month to the next.