How to encourage more donations
Mar. 13th, 2022 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaToday I went through the stuff in the little back utility/tool room to gather a donation for The ReBuilding Center. They don't take loose screws and nails anymore, so I sorted out a few of those to keep and bagged up the rest to put in the city recycling since they're metal.
When my friend was preparing to move to Pittsburgh recently, he was getting rid of his grandfather's toolbox. He let me go through it first, and I kept a huge allen key, a wooden-handled screwdriver, and several C clamps. I kept the smallest clamp, but the other tools went in the donation bag, along with a full set of english and metric socket wrenches and drivers that I never use, and some other tools I've collected that I haven't needed much. The painting supplies, the leftover pieces of dryer duct, the unused plumbing supplies, all went in bags.
I found a substantial coil of sisal rope that I had forgotten about. I guess I had some left over the last time I augmented a worn cat tree. Well! I had just called Pets on Broadway and they will take Basil's large cat tree as a donation, once I can figure out how to get it over there, since it's too big for my bike trailer. I paused in my sorting to wrap the sisal around one of the thoroughly clawed carpeted posts. Looks much better! I'm glad I found the rope while I still have the cat tree.
I took my bike trailer-full of miscellaneous tools and supplies to the ReBuilding Center's back alley where they take donations, and Steve kindly accepted almost everything I brought. He and another coworker were delighted by the small hammer I donated, the last of a set of small tools my father gave me when I was 10 or so. Now that I have some depth perception, my adult-size hammer is a lot more useful.
As I was getting ready to leave, I said, "I'm so pleased!" They were happy I was happy. I'm going to call tomorrow for them to pick up some trellises that are too big for the trailer, and maybe some other miscellaneous wood and parts that were left over.
This is in contrast to FreeGeek, where I took a trailer-full of electronics a few weeks ago. The man on duty out in the parking lot literally spread his arms as if to keep me from riding in and stealing things, and was notably more brusque to me than to the people who arrived by car. I think he thought I was homeless.
When I got home, I wrote an email on their website contact form saying, "a) I'm not homeless and b) it's not okay to treat homeless people that way. Please train your staff better." I didn't receive a response. A couple of days later I was there again with just a pannier bag full of left over stuff, and I mentioned the problem to a different staff member. He said brusquely, "Yes, we got the email, we're handling it internally." What the hell. I will figure out other places to take my electronics!
It's important to me not to put anything in the garbage that can be reused somehow, and I like to support the nonprofits that are doing the work of reuse. And I want to be treated like a person!
When my friend was preparing to move to Pittsburgh recently, he was getting rid of his grandfather's toolbox. He let me go through it first, and I kept a huge allen key, a wooden-handled screwdriver, and several C clamps. I kept the smallest clamp, but the other tools went in the donation bag, along with a full set of english and metric socket wrenches and drivers that I never use, and some other tools I've collected that I haven't needed much. The painting supplies, the leftover pieces of dryer duct, the unused plumbing supplies, all went in bags.
I found a substantial coil of sisal rope that I had forgotten about. I guess I had some left over the last time I augmented a worn cat tree. Well! I had just called Pets on Broadway and they will take Basil's large cat tree as a donation, once I can figure out how to get it over there, since it's too big for my bike trailer. I paused in my sorting to wrap the sisal around one of the thoroughly clawed carpeted posts. Looks much better! I'm glad I found the rope while I still have the cat tree.
I took my bike trailer-full of miscellaneous tools and supplies to the ReBuilding Center's back alley where they take donations, and Steve kindly accepted almost everything I brought. He and another coworker were delighted by the small hammer I donated, the last of a set of small tools my father gave me when I was 10 or so. Now that I have some depth perception, my adult-size hammer is a lot more useful.
As I was getting ready to leave, I said, "I'm so pleased!" They were happy I was happy. I'm going to call tomorrow for them to pick up some trellises that are too big for the trailer, and maybe some other miscellaneous wood and parts that were left over.
This is in contrast to FreeGeek, where I took a trailer-full of electronics a few weeks ago. The man on duty out in the parking lot literally spread his arms as if to keep me from riding in and stealing things, and was notably more brusque to me than to the people who arrived by car. I think he thought I was homeless.
When I got home, I wrote an email on their website contact form saying, "a) I'm not homeless and b) it's not okay to treat homeless people that way. Please train your staff better." I didn't receive a response. A couple of days later I was there again with just a pannier bag full of left over stuff, and I mentioned the problem to a different staff member. He said brusquely, "Yes, we got the email, we're handling it internally." What the hell. I will figure out other places to take my electronics!
It's important to me not to put anything in the garbage that can be reused somehow, and I like to support the nonprofits that are doing the work of reuse. And I want to be treated like a person!
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Date: 2022-03-27 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-28 04:38 pm (UTC)