To Give is to Receive

The past month, Mom kept bringing up the fact that she had so many pretty coats and dresses, etc. that were taking up space in the closet and she hadn’t worn them in years. She wanted to sell them in a garage sale. Sis and I told her it wasn’t feasible to have a garage sale as we live out in the country and would get very few people stopping by. We told her we’d be glad to take them and donate them to the Salvation Army.

“No way! I’m not giving my pretty clothes to some one who doesn’t deserve them! You know how those Salvation Army stores are. They sell to anybody and some drunken, drugged up woman will get them.”

“Mom, the Salvation Army store is for the poor so they can buy clothes they need at very cheap prices. There are many poor people who need them.”

“No, that’s what they say but it doesn’t really happen that way. The slobs of society buy there the most.”

Sis and I decided to close that subject before we let out our anger at Mom’s words. Mom is very prejudiced and believed her clothes wouldn’t go to the ’right’ people. A couple weeks ago, I called the local women’s shelter and asked if they accepted donations of clothing. The woman I talked to was thrilled. She said they get so few donations as most people donate to Salvation Army, Goodwill and the more well-known places like that. She told me the address of the drop-off place where we could take the clothes and thanked me for thinking of them.

Sis dug into her closet and bagged up 6 large trash bags full of clothing and shoes. They filled the back seat of my car. I had very little to donate as I'd sold/donated everything before I'd moved here. We went into the house and talked to Mom about donating her items and she liked the idea of donating to the women’s shelter. She deemed them ‘worthy’ of the clothing. She went through her closets, drawers, and boxes of stored clothing, shoes, and purses. We bagged and boxed all of it and took it out to the car. Mom’s items filled the trunk and the back floor of the car. Sis held onto 2 boxes in her lap for the trip to the drop-off.

We arrived to the drop-off and was greeted by a lovely woman who was so excited to see us. I opened the trunk and the back doors of the car and her eyes grew huge in the wondrous sight before her! She was ecstatic and stated they had never received such a generous donation before. This donation would clothe many, many women in their time of need. Mom’s dressy items would be wonderful for some woman trying to find a job. She would look very nice for an interview.

She hugged us profusely and had the most wonderful smile on her face and a few tears in her eyes. We drove off with tears in our eyes. What a wonderful feeling!

Please donate what you can to those in need. You’ll give someone something that is badly needed and you will receive such gratitude. It will make your heart full.