Easy Way to make a change

So Spring is in the air, at least in Washington DC it is. For many people that means "spring cleaning." I know in the next couple of weeks I will be doing a lot of cleaning and packing around my place, and I think it is safe to assume that many others will do the same as they pack up their winter clothes and equipment and pull out their spring/summer items. In this process I always find that I have a pile of items that I no longer want and/or need. The big question is what do you do with them? Well, one obvious option would be to donate them to charity.

Of course you could take this donation one step further and host a donation drive through your work, school and/or church. With very little extra effort you could help colleagues, friends and families as well as many people you don't even know.

Hosting a donation drive is very simple and most organizations, such as Goodwill, are willing to help you in this effort. The steps are simple:

1. Select the dates for your drive
2. Set a goal for how much you would like to collect
3. Contact your local charity to arrange pick up/drop off of donated items
4. Create and distribute flyers/communications about the drive (Goodwill actually already have the flyers made for you, all you have to do is input your specific information.)
5. At the beginning of the week, put out collection bins
6. At the close of the week, collect donation bins
7. Drop of donated items

It really is that simple. Another idea is to do it in conjunction with another event. That is what I am doing with my work. We have a large office-wide meeting in April and will collect donations at the meeting. Well, I am off. I'll let you know how much we collect. In the mean time, happy cleaning. :-)