Welcome to Share Your Stuff
This is a personal effort by a Minnesotan who has a commitment to helping struggling people. Many of us have extra stuff to share and want to give it to folks who are down on their luck. While we may have personal connections who can use our outgrown baby clothes, unwanted gifts,extra furniture, and inherited items, we don't always know people personally who need what we are ready to share.
From the regular phone calls, mail solicitations, and ads, we see you would think it would be simple to pass along our cast-offs to folks who need them. Once again it turns out that things are not as simple as they seem. Most of the agencies who solicit your donations sell the items rather than giving them to struggling folks. Some items are sold as is and other simply go straight to scrap dealers who pay for clothes and other items by the pound. While some of the modest income from the sales is donated to the associated charity, most of the earnings go to profit-based groups that facilitate the process.
This blog is an attempt to list groups that accept items to give to families in need so you can share your stuff that's in good condition. For things that are not in good enough for families resources for donations to other agencies or recycling options are listed.
This site is specific to Minnesota. Groups are listed only if they serve all those in need without discrimination. Organizations that use donated items to push messages that could make clients uncomfortable (religious recruiting, anti-abortion pressure, and discrimination against transgender people for example) are not listed.
Your feedback is welcome! Are you aware of an organization that was missed? Are you looking for a group that needs an item you want to share? Did you try to contact an organization and learn that they disbanded? PLEASE let me know in the comments-it's one more kind of stuff to share!
