What is a donor?
donor |ˈdōnər|
noun
- a person who donates something to a fund or charity
- a person who provides blood for transfusion or an organ or tissue for transplantation
The term donor likely sparks a different association for all of us. For some, you are faithful financial donors to a charitable organization; perhaps many associate the term with your local clothing, food, or blood drives; others identify with it during spring cleaning or moving, when you haul a load of unwanted items to your local thrift store; for still others the idea may be foreign, apart from the label on your drivers license indicating whether you will be available for medical use after you die.
But the truth is, for anyone anywhere, donating is viewed in a generally positive light. It’s releasing a part of you for the benefit of someone else. It’s making your own resources available to give life, provision, or simply happiness to another – maybe someone you will never meet.
What makes us give, expecting nothing but satisfaction in return? I suspect there is a lot to be said here. But as for me, I like to know that whatever I have to give will be valued, used, and invested into fellow human beings, and in turn, make my community stronger.
In any donor’s dream, all these things would happen. With every donation you give.
Done.
The beauty of giving used goods to Miracle Hill Thrift Stores is that you can check off everything from that donor’s wish list, all at the same time. Let’s review our ABCs to find out how:
A)ssist a charitable organization that helps those in need.
Miracle Hill Ministries provides physical, emotional, and spiritual assistance to upwards of 560 children and adults throughout Upstate SC every day of the year. This takes many forms ~ from foster care to addiction recovery, from daily meals to counseling and job training.
Each of our 8 thrift stores exists for the purpose of selling donated goods in order to help sustain our shelters and services financially. And we could not operate even one store without donated items from individuals across the Upstate.
The faces of our organization are many, but our goal is the same:
“That homeless children and adults receive food and shelter with compassion, hear the Good News of Jesus Christ, and move toward healthy relationships and stability.”
B)righten your earth by reducing trash and excess.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling creates jobs, reduces pollution and energy use, and conserves national resources. The average American produces 1,600 pounds of garbage a year. (Statistics courtesy of Reader’s Digest.)
Over 2.6 million lbs of clothing alone (to say nothing of furniture, equipment, home decor, toys, shoes, books, electronics etc.) have been recycled in our thrift stores. Gently used or brand new donated clothing items were sold to and reused by satisfied shoppers.
This means that landfills could have been fuller by 2.6 million lbs, and our planet could have been further polluted by waste. Could have been.
C)lean your clutter to simplify your life.
According to professional organizer and blogger, Hilda of FromOverwhelmedToOrganizedBlog.com, there are numerous ways that your clutter may be costing you money:
- Your kitchen counters are too cluttered to cook on, making it hard to cook your dinners at home. This means you eat out a lot, which costs more than home-cooked meals.
- You don’t have enough space in your home to store all the things you want to keep but that you don’t use on a regular basis, so you keep them in a storage unit. Those monthly costs add up quickly.
- Similarly, you live in a larger home than you really need to because you have so many possessions. Larger homes cost more than smaller homes.
- Your clutter is causing you stress or increasing your depression, so you have to take medications to cope. Those aren’t cheap.
- Your garage is full of clutter so you can’t park your vehicles in it. This means your car is less protected and will deteriorate quicker than it should. Your car is one of your biggest expenses and buying a new or new-to-you vehicle more often than you really need to can really add up.
- You bought a gift on sale for a family member but couldn’t find it so you had to go buy another one at full price. Then a few months later you came across the original one but it’s too late to return it.
- You buy your kids more and more toys because they lose interest so quickly in the ones they have, but really they are probably overwhelmed with all the options and aren’t sure what to play with or even what they have.
I have nothing to add.
D)efend your nation’s economy by supporting local enterprise and job growth.
Miracle Hill Thrift not only provides job training and transitional employment for clients, but we also create jobs for the community at large. Each store within the organization employs a management team, cashiers, donations attendants, clothing staff, and home goods processors.
Our stores also strengthen the SC economy by keeping resources and profits local. We certainly can’t do it alone. Miracle Hill Ministries partners with local churches, nonprofits, and government organizations to achieve common goals and generate sustainable growth for us all.
In summary, how many causes does your Miracle Hill donation support? Let’s go with E) All of the above.
So back to that notion of giving without much return… I’d say your return on investment for donations given is actually chart-topping at the end of the day. But don’t take my word for it.
The best way to learn is by doing.
Until next time,
Jenn
