I have a closet full of stuffed animals I've had for a long time. I'm too old to play with them, and this Christmas, I want to give them to kids who would play with them and enjoy them. Anyone know any places I could donate used stuffed animals to around central Ohio?
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
You are such a good human being to share your plenty (and protect the environment too)!! Here is some informatiion I found with a google search. <Contact charities that collect used toys and stuffed animals, such as Project Night Night. There is an Ohio drop-off center at the Gallman Group, Re/Max Haven Realty, located on 34050 Solon Road in Solon, OH. Contact them at 1-440-248-2548. You can also mail your stuffed animals to their product mailing locations, as seen on their website, if you don't live near the Solon area (see References).
Contact Stuffed Animals For Emergencies (SAFE) a charity that collects stuffed animals for emergency organizations, children's hospitals, homeless shelters and other places that assist children in need (see References). They have a chapter in Ohio and ask donors to email the chapter leader. Go to the website and click on "Chapters" and scroll down to the Ohio section for more information.
Contact the Ohio State University Hospital, Mount Carmel Health or another hospital in your area and offer to donate to the children's center. Many hospitals offer charity drives for children. You can also contact your local homeless shelters, children's wellness centers and schools to donate stuffed animals.>
Most hospitals want new ones. You can try schools, after-school programs, and Freecycle and Craigslist
I believe you can find a welcome home for your little critters at one of these worthy causes.
Check out several that may be near you and some will pick up also.
nkspickup.com/
pocketsense.com/
You have a big heart and I commend you for your generosity and thoughtfulness!!! The others have given you ideas for what I call the more big box or mainstream charities. They are wonderful ideas, but I wanted to share with you something called micro giving.
Micro giving is all about giving right in your own back yard.
Two examples of this are 1. your school district or 2. giving them to a "free store" where people in your area can come and shop and pick out something and pay what they can, which in some cases is nothing.
For #1, there are probably children in your school district who may be in need and would love to have a stuffed animal. Talk you your principal or guidance counselor to see if there is a program right in your school system to get these into the hands of children in need. Perhaps you could gather some of your friends to donate plushies also and really get lots of gifts to lots of children! You could have a little party stuffing gift bags (maybe you can get a store to donate them!)
For #2, I am giving you a link to "free" stores in Central Ohio area. If any are near you, perhaps you could take the animals there and then they can be on the shelves in plenty of time for Christmas.
www.google.com/
Even though they are clean, it would be good to sanitize the animals prior to donation just to freshen them up a bit. This website gives some easy hints.
You are to be commended for your plans!! Post back how it all goes!! You are a beautiful human!!
I really like Pghgirl's suggestions because many communities have some form of "Free Store".
We have a couple in my area but they will not accept "toys" - only food and clothing. They say toys cause problems in the store (usually the problem is more than one child wanting the same toy) so they suggest giving toys to other charities. They also say they cannot always be sure toys are safe so better to decline.
This is probably not the same in other cities.
I work with several volunteer groups during the holidays and none of them will accept "used" stuffed animals so I guess my community is not one of those overly friendly types (they state " sanitary reasons for declining these items).
Our hospitals and clinics have not accepted used stuffed animals for many years now so thrift stores are usually where these go but most of them sell these for $.50 to $1.00 - they have to throw away a lot due to condition of the donation.
I am not trying to be a naysayer; just saying, it is not always that easy to find a truly worthy cause to donate these little critters to so I hope this works out well for you and someone makes your gift available to the general public.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
