Mike's Minute: Is the "need" for charities dropping?

Who knew helping charities was so hard? 

Or to put it another way, who knew charities were doing so well? 

We have had a clean up and clean out. We are shifting and shuffling and de-cluttering. 

This happens a bit at our house – I married a person who loves stuff, until they don’t. It hasn’t applied to me yet, but it applies to a lot of other stuff. 

Tables and chairs and clothes are in the current pile. So rather than dump them we ring people. 

We ring hospice - they are full. 

We ring SPCA - they are full. 

We ring Salvation Army - they are full. 

We ring Red Cross - no reply. No answer phone, no nothing. 

We ring Habitat for Humanity - no reply. No answer phone, no nothing. How can I give you stuff if you can't answer the phone? 

We ring City Mission - they are full. 

You literally cannot give stuff away. 

If all these people are full, they seemingly can't give it away either. If they can't give it away, could that mean that demand is down? Does no one want a table or a set of dining chairs? Is the country not really in the dire state they keep telling us it is? 

We did have the problem a while back where some charities started to get picky on things like clothes because people would dump tat and, essentially, rubbish. 

But in our pile, clothing wise, there is a Kenzo sweatshirt. Who doesn’t want a Kenzo sweatshirt? 

We did think we could save it for the kids. Someone, some time, is going to need a flat full of stuff. 

Half our old stuff is in fact scattered around various flats. But storage is money and who the hell knows when, or if, your kids are going to need a set of glasses or a side table. 

So we thought the most use right here, right now are the army of those in genuine need. 

But it seems there is no army because everyone is full. 

So to the dump it is. Is that a waste? 

Or is it good news that the so-called "need" is nothing like they make it out to be? 

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