Is Goodwill really “good”?
After a full school year followed by two weeks of family in town to visit, I finally have some time to clean out my closet and really clean my room!!! I automatically assume that I will give my clothes to Goodwill, but I am just now wondering, what exactly does Goodwill do with their proceeds? I honestly have no idea. I just assume it’s a good organization because it’s a part of their name. Are they like the Salvation Army?
Maybe I should try to have a garage sale and then donate the money I make to an organization that I am more familiar with or give the proceeds as an offering at church? Realistically, I do not have time to actually have a garage sale any time soon (I’ve never had one before). OK, maybe I can save my clothes to donate to a missions trip or some other “cause” that is just as “good” as Goodwill. I guess I’m just trying not to always do the laziest, most convinient thing (dropping my stuff off at Goodwill) as I purge my shelves, hangers, dresser drawers and shoes.
What do you do with your old clothes? Do you ever feel like it’s lame to give away stuff you no longer want? Is it really giving if you no longer want what you’re giving away? What makes my old clothes better than trash? I suppose there is the saying that one person’s trash is another’s treasure. Perhaps that will hold true as I sift through and give away clothes I bought, wore once, maybe twice, and never wore again. But, then I also have to wonder, why is it that I don’t also so readily give away the stuff I really want? And how much stuff is too much?
I have a lot of stuff…so much so I can’t believe it. Sometimes, this belief extends to the point of embarrasment. For example, last week I was looking for a jewelry box that I haven’t seen since we moved into our house about 4 years ago. In it was my grandmother’s wedding ring that I broke, but which can be easily repaired (the band snapped). My sister was recently engaged and she and her fiancee can’t really afford a diamond ring (which she would love to have, something simple, just like this ring) so I thought I should give her our Kauai Grandma’s ring since I have my own wedding ring now. It’s a precious ring from the 1920’s that has 7 tiny diamonds in it. I lost this ring in college (when I used to wear it all of the time) and I prayed and prayed to the Lord that somehow I would find it again. I was a baby-baby Christian at the time. I didn’t even know that being a Christian meant you should probably look for a church or have fellowship or anything. I just believed in Jesus as God and Savior at that point in my journey. That night, after re-tracing my steps all afternoon at school, as I was in bed crying and praying to the Lord for the ring to be found. In my distress, I rolled over in a tantrum like fit and something poked me in the rib. I swatted at it to relieve my irritation and as my hand made contact with what was poking me, I realized that the irritation was the ring! I swore that I had lost it at school!!! I believe that it was an absolute miracle and an answer to prayer that I found it. Even if it had slipped off in my sleep the night before, even so, in my mind, it was lost, and then it was found! Just like I was…(life was really hard, lonely and dark back then…).
But, I digress (my point is that it’s a special ring!).
Anyway, I looked around the house for a long time for the jewelry box in which I knew the ring would be. I almost gave up for the day and then I finally I found it tucked away in one of our closets. Nestled next to the ring, I also re-discoved a pair of diamond earrings that my Mom gave to me years ago which had belonged to my other Grandmother. I had forgotten all about those! This is why I say that I have WAY too much stuff.
So, I’m going to give those earrings to my sister if she wants them (but notice I have not yet given them away!). If she doesn’t want them, perhaps I should give them to someone else who would appreciate them? Or should I hold on to them and keep them “in the family?”
It’s so easy to give away my old clothes, but not so much those earrings…
Do people ever give diamond earrings to Goodwill? Would that be dumb to give them to Goodwill? Would they just get lost in some junk pile?
Well, now I will “have to” look into Goodwill before I clean out my closet and drop off my bags (and bags) full of clothes/shoes/misc. items. It is likely a “good” organization as far as “good” goes.
It’s just like me to find a way to procrastinate from cleaning my room for just a bit longer…
