From Deja New: Thanks to the generosity of Lakewood, Deja New has had a 300 percent increase in clothing donations since 2014. However, over 65 percent of the clothing donated is not usable. Sorting the clothing takes thousands of unnecessary hours and dollars. These dollars and hours can be used much more efficiently. If each donor would take the few minutes to properly sort it would make a huge difference. After the unusable clothing is sorted out it is then sold to third party rag vendors with the money defraying some sorting costs. Proceeds go to tzedaka. The good clothing gets hung on the racks at Deja New with approximately 15,000 of these clothing items going off the racks of Deja New every month. Hundreds and hundreds of families in Lakewood rely on Deja New for the bulk of their wardrobes.
Since Pesach, there are trailer loads of clothing that still need to be sorted. Year round volunteers sort through the clothing on an almost daily basis. This past year almost every single girls’ High School dedicated a day to Deja New sorting, where clothing was brought to the school and the girls sorted through the mountains of donations. This summer additional teams of paid sorters are working through the backlog. This costs thousands of hours and dollars in sorting and storage. Therefore to catch up and allow people to sort their clothing before donating, Deja New is closing down the sheds until August 11.
Please sort all your clothing before returning to the sheds after August 11. Clothing that should be sorted out: Clothing that does not appear almost new; clothing that is faded, pilled, stained or stretched out. Unfashionable items that 85 percent of our community is not wearing.
ALL LOCATIONS HAVE A GOOD SIDE AND A ‘BAD’ SIDE. Please tie all bags shut and don’t overstuff bags.
Deja New loves your good clothing donations and your unusable donations. Just in separate bags.
Each of your five minutes together will make a huge impact!! Help Lakewood help Lakewood and give your clothes a second chance.
[TLS]
maybe make a campaign asking for volunteers now that so many girls are off.
Deja new is an incredible organization. Keep up the great work!
Would it help to also sort into categories? (Coats, little girls, big boys, etc.)
What Deja New does is incredible. A close family friend is very involved there. Ppl come in and buy clothes for themselves and their kids for Pesach for, like, $30. It’s not normal. It costs the donors nothing and benefits the beneficiaries in the $1,000s. They definitely deserve all our help.
We actually have girls calling to volunteer. They are wonderful. Sorting into categories, is helpful but not necessary. The greatest help is to sort out the unusualbe. Don’t forget to drop the unusuable in the correct side of the bins. Deja New gets money from it, and this helps a lot. (I am a Deja New volunteer)
@5 so maybe make a campaign and get 50-60 girls to come for a couple of hours and knock out the whole sorting.
Can we suggest you provide color coded bags for the clothes in good condition. So everything els you just dispose. save alot of sorting. (Local stores would donate bags) great advertisement.
@Safe Driver
Great Idea
does anyone what I can do with a bag of clothes that are in great condition but outdated? Assuming pple in eretz yisroel would be very happy with it.
As a volunteer, I very much want to get this message out to the very generous families of Lakewood-
In addition to the guidelines above, PLEASE don’t put the following items in the bins marked “good”:
glassware
car seats, strollers etc.
clothing stored in your attic for umpteen years
PLEASE don’t send:
shaimos, old tzitzis, talleisim
The less unusable stuff we get, the more good items we can send to the store for people to benefit from.
Tizku L’mitzvos
Why wait to give away your clothing when they’re outdated.Also newlyweds why wait give your current clothing away as soon as you are not wearings stuff.
As a general rule you gain weight outgrow stuff you will never fit into stuff again give it away right away
@ 11 then why buy clothing at that size at all?