Donation of Household Goods

We have a sofa we bought about 7 months ago that we have not been using.  We found another one we fell in love with and so we moved the other one out onto our covered patio until we decided what to do with it.  We got one of those cards in the mail the other day that read "We pick up household goods and furniture" so we called and found out that its a resale/thrift store that uses the money made in the store to support a local charity.  We made the appointment and they sent the truck today.

Any of you with toddlers know that it is virtually impossible to keep furniture spotless unless you wrap it in plastic wrap.  You may also be familiar with the kind of fabric that stains with a drop of water.  Well, we had  both with this situation and so there were a couple of small water stains on the cushion.  Otherwise, it is a very modern, nice and fairly expensive sofa.  Needless to say, they wouldn't take it.  They said it didn't fit into their guidelines for donated items.

While I understand not taking old, worn out, ripped and torn items to try to resale, my initial thought was "are you kidding me?  We are trying to GIVE this sofa away that we spent X number of dollars on less than a year ago and you won't take it because of a couple of water stains? Someone could really use this!"  Then my husband very calmly said "OK.  I understand.  Could you use these other items?"  We had some toys and clothes our son has outgrown.  They had no problem with those items, thanked us and went on their way.  Then we loaded the sofa into our Suburban and drove it to a donation location we new would accept it.  The manager of the store took it without any issues and we went on our way.

After leaving the store, I realized that I had mixed emotions and thoughts about our donation.  While I know the store where we dropped of the sofa is an organization that helps people in lots of different situations, I did not have a direct connection with the person who will use that sofa.  I don't know if that donation is really going to make the person who buys it feel the love of God that we were trying to share in our donation.  And, would the person who desperately needs the love of God AND a sofa be able to purchase it in that store?

This brought my husband and I to a discussion of how we could address that in the future.  We came up with several ideas that we are going to be exploring and sharing with all of you as we move forward on this journey.  One of which is establishing a non-profit organization that accepts donations, direct or indirect, and then finds a person, people or family that could benefit from a GIFT.  Not a purchase but a GIFT.  Along with this gift would be sharing the love of God with the recipient and how they could, despite whatever their personal situation is, pass that same love on to those they come in contact with every day.  That's how a true difference is made.  One person, one family can't make a profound difference in their own little corner of the world without people they touch passing along the blessing.

I would like to encourage you to share with us your thoughts and any ideas you may have regarding this desire to truly reach the people who really need to be reached.  Is your family, community or church finding ways to reach those around you who need it most?  We look forward to hearing how you are sharing the love of God with others.