Hello AT,
I know this may be sacrilegious considering the site, but do you know of any charities that take furniture?
I tried the Salvation Army but my experience was beyond painful. Any others? Sometimes you just don't want to bother with selling it, but don't want to just put it on the sidewalk.
Any suggestions? Daniel
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Dear Daniel,
Sacriligious? Absolutely not! Recycling of good furniture is part of what we're all about. Making more out or less! Sharing the wealth! One man's cast off is another man's gold!
But getting charities to pick up your furniture can be tricky because they are 1. inundated with requests and 2. much of the furniture that people want to give away is not worth their picking up (see Apartment Therapy on a Low Carb Furniture Diet).
Charities are very strict about picking up furniture and will usually only take pieces which are solid wood and not press board and where there are enough pieces to warrant a stop.
That said, here are are top resources:
- Giving to other people in your building - Doormen are the best way of finding new homes for old furniture. They know everyone.
- Have your own stoop sale. We do this twice a year and charge pennies just to get things into other people's hands.
- Housing Works is the best at picking up.
- Goodwill
- Hey, on a sunny day, the street isn't a bad place and many things will be claimed within minutes
Anyone else??
Goodwill is the best.
By the way, check out http://www.shopgoodwill.com/. It's the Goodwill's Ebay and there are some amazing bargains to be had.
i second the vote for housing works! great at picking up.
There are also local groups of a great organization called Freecycle. People post all kinds of things they are giving away. I just got rid of my sofa through Freecycle in Hudson County, NJ through the local Freecycle web group.
Here is the link to join for NYC:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclenewyorkcity/
I second Freecycle.
Also, sometimes places like domestic violence projects might pick up furniture - people need new furniture when they're starting over. I successfully donated a lot of furniture to such an organization once and they came over with a truck to pick up everything. But a few years later in a different location with a different organization, they wouldn't accept a donation.
Also try the free section on Craig's List.
Call your local church. They have mission partners they support who could use furniture e.g. centers for the homeless, centers for abused women and children.
I don't know about specific recs for NYC, but definitely look at homeless transition organizations. They don't necessarily care how great the furniture is so long as it's still in usable shape. I've been looking into this option for several items I have.
Christine, what have you found in DC along those lines?
Christine and Pixie, take a look at Green Door, linked to my name. Their June Wish List is posted at www.greendoor.org. Any thing I have to donate goes to them. Talk to Maureen Jais-Micks, the director of development.
It's Maureen Jais-Mick with no "s", and their number at The Clubhouse is 202-462-4092.
I know that there are groups in NYC with a clubhouse model, but I don't know the names.
in nyc try "furnish a future" part of the partnership for the homeless
they take furniture and housewares .....basically anything need to set up house for people transitioning from homeless shelters to their own places. when the people are gven an apt they get an appointment to go to the warehouse and "shop" free of charge for things to furnish their new homes.
Jean, Thanks so much for the Green Door info - I walk by the clubhouse all the time and never knew what it was exactly. They are top of my list for future donations.
While stuck in traffic to get on the Manhattan Bridge I saw a truck from Big Brothers/Big Sisters that said they pick up furniture - but the truck had a (914) number and said "lower Westchester only". Don't know why it was in Brooklyn, but maybe a local chapter does pick-ups, too.
Thanks, Jean, for that lead.
Pixie, I haven't actually contacted any of the places yet, but I found them here:
http://www.charitablechoices.org/whoaccepts.asp
I think N Street Village was the one I was thinking of. I also found an organization near Barracks Row (which is in my 'hood more or less)--but I don't think that was from this site.
I need to contact someone for a few things in my "outbox"!!!
Pixie--the other ones i saw were:
Community Connections
http://www.communityconnectionsdc.org/
and SOME
http://www.some.org/inv_material.html
Community Connections is on the Hill and does much the same work as Green Door.
curb alert, curb alert, curb alert.
sure, it's not tax deductible, and i wouldn't leave out anything upholstered (the first rule of scavenging is that you don't touch anything upholstered because you don't know what's living in there or what kind of smell it'll unleash) but you don't have to take it far and you KNOW somebody who needs it will take it home. and not only will the person get free furniture, they'll also get a great story -- i'll never forget the night i was taking a walk down St. Mark's Place and found a pristine hardwood night stand circa 1930 just waiting for me on the street corner.
man, i had a field day when Pratt let out for the semester a few weeks ago...
Salvation Army is much easier to deal with if you get a supervisor on the phone. Voice of experience here!
One organization I don't see mentioned in St. Vincent de Paul. Their workers are polite, and they take everything. The caveat is that they only pick up in areas where they have stores.
yes, charities only accept furniture that is in excellent condition and made from solid wood. their job is reselling it to support many helpful programs,new york has many charity thrift stores that are excellent at picking up donations. angel street thrift shop, city opera thrift shop, 17@17 are amomg those that pick up and you'll get a tax deduction as well. it's a nice idea to donate to different groups and spread your help around.
My favorite street furniture story--when I first moved to NYC I bought all my furniture at a yard sale in Long Island in 1995. Part of the collection was two unique (but crappy, in my opinion) wood end tables. Sometime in 1997 I left one of them on the street. In 2001 I moved, and a lady walking by saw my other end table in the moving truck and said "I have that, too!" She had bought it at a stoop sale. Then just this fall I saw the table being loaded into someone's van. "That was mine, years ago." I said. He had found it on the street and was passing it on to a friend. Glad it is not in a landfill.
I got a loveseat (despite all the obvious no-nos about aquiring used upholstery) by the dumpster during grad school. I did a sniff test, examined it--it was clear someone just spontaneously put it there when they were moving out. I ended up finding out that it belonged to a friend of a friend....at any rate, I kept it during grad school until just recently--when I SOLD it for $30. That was awesome. the guy who bought it was super thrilled--he felt like he was getting a steal--and I felt somewhat vindicated. I recently picked up an Ikea "ivar" rolling set of drawers that I was going to buy anyway to store office supplies. Funny thing about that is that I was kind of drunk and made my friend put it in the trunk of her car. I think she was a bit peeved that I was putting furniture from the street in her car. I have also shared the love in the past, putting things out to be snatched up, but I find things kind of sit here in DC, at least in my neighborhood, though.
since everyone's into correcting spelling...I meant acquiring.