Ready to Go!

[Elaine Piraino-Holevoet]

It’s online! The Downsizing Donation Guide was funded by a grant I received from Recycle CT one year ago. The Downsizing Donation Guide is available on the home page of the HomeHaven website for all to read and download (www.homehavenvillages.org.).

The goal of The Downsizing Donation Guide is to keep useful items being removed from people’s homes or businesses as they downsize out of the waste stream and out of recycling bins. Its broader mission is to help residents of New Haven County find a new life for these items with groups that will use them.

Forty-three organizations from across New Haven County participated in the project. Each supplied a wishlist of needed items and instructions on how to donate them. Most wishlists are very specific. Some are very short, others long. Some items are for immediate consumption (food); others are meant to provide a lifetime of joy (musical instruments, golf clubs). Most requests are for goods for use in ongoing programs. Some will be sold to raise funds for programming. 

Wishlist requests range from alarm clocks to violins, from garden tools to wheelchairs, from bicycles to pickup trucks [on three wishlists!]. Some wishlists contain such challenging to donate items as musical instruments, pet supplies, medical equipment, and knicknacks!  Many requests are items to fulfill basic human needs: bed linens, canned goods, cleaning supplies, diapers, paper products, toiletries, and towels, all items likely to be left behind if a person is making a long-distance move, transitioning to assisted living, or settling an estate.

The project proved useful even before The Downsizing Donation Guide was completed. One of the participating organizations contacted me to ask if I knew of anyone who might be interested in 200 chair covers they had been offered but could not use. I was able to connect them with someone who was looking for that very thing! 

While the primary purpose of this guide is to find new life for still useful things, it is my hope that as you explore The Downsizing Donation Guide you may also discover some new organizations of interest, or even of service, to you or someone you know.

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”- Vincent Van Gogh

If you make a donation as a result of The Downsizing Donation Guide, please tell the organization how you heard about their needs.

Please share the The Downsizing Donation Guide with friends and colleagues whenever you have the opportunity. Happy downsizing!