Everyone has different ways to stave off cabin fever. Some people are dancing or baking or drawing. Some people are regularly video-chatting with dozens of their closest friends. Some are just sleeping a lot.
But one popular quarantine activity, clearly, is cleaning out old closets and drawers. Under normal circumstances, donating old clothing that’s still in good condition is a great thing to do — but donations, like so many other things, have been upended by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Many donation centres, including Goodwill, the Salvation Army and Diabetes Canada, have closed down. That means there’s no one there to pick up collections — but it doesn’t seem like the word has gotten out, since a ton of people are just leaving their stuff on the ground near unattended bins.
“Donation bins are not for garbage,” Diabetes Canada wrote in a tweet.
Although they’re closed for now, donation bins will reopen eventually — so if you have the storage space, consider keeping your items for now.
If you want to donate to people in need right now, non-perishable food to food banks and shelters or cash donations to a wide variety of communities in need are always helpful.
Here are some resources for areas that can use donations:
- Food Banks Canada
- Homeless populations in Canada
- Check in with local hospitals: For instance, Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto is accepting masks, surgical gowns and other PPE
- The Gore Mutual Foundation is matching donations made to either health-care funds or community funds through Canada Helps
Watch the video above to see more about how to handle your clothing and textile donations.
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