I’ve been researching clothing donation sites in Sacramento. Recently, a friend of mine who’d like to donate clothes asked me if I knew of any donation sites or groups in the area that weren’t affiliated with Christianity. My friend, who is an atheist, would like to support something in line with his moral code.

I found a few sites and recently stumbled across green bins in midtown (on P Street, mostly) proclaiming something about supporting the GAIA-Green Earth Movement. It sounded like a cool thing to do, since environmentalism is a good cause–particularly because without a healthy environment, you don’t have healthy people. Wouldn’t you agree?

I did have some questions about the bins, so I went online to do a bit more research. I discovered that this movement has placed bins in Chicago. I found the HQ address–it’s in Switzerland. Whoa. Switzerland?

There’s an American HQ, but it’s in Chicago. Who are the local people? I wanted more information.

I looked further, and found a series of disturbing articles about the bin donations. According to one site, the founders of this organization have a spotty past. How can we verify that the money earned by selling the donated clothes is actually going where it’s supposed to? And how do we know that the projects are of value? Or that they actually will result in positive change? Or that they even exist, as one of the referenced articles suggests.

I wish there was a way to get money to a valid local environmental group to promote and help clean the air, our beautiful rivers, and pretty up our own city. Wouldn’t it be nice to support a group here?

I’m going back to the drawing board on my research. I can’t honestly recommend donating to one of these green bins. I might as well recommend throwing the clothing out and leaving it for dumpster divers.

If you know of a non-religious local group that will use a clothing donation wisely, please speak up. Meanwhile, I’m back at the PC, searching for a true good cause.