Homelessness has always been a problem in the United States (and, indeed, around the world) but nowadays, the problem seems to get worse. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that there are nearly 600,000 homeless people in the country, nearly a quarter of whom are children. A considerable number of the homeless happen to be veterans, and some of the homeless population live as family units. As terrible it is to confront, helping families in need of food, shelter, and clothing is a critical and massive undertaking in the country.

More distressing than the sheer number of homeless people is the fact that a large chunk of resources that could go to the homeless are simply thrown away. In particular, clothing and fabrics tend to be tossed away when it could go to those in need. Nearly 90% of all textile waste are perfectly usable but unfortunately, nearly 5% of all waste in garbage dumps are recyclable textiles. In addition, Americans on average throw away approximately 68 pounds of clothing but only buy 10 pounds of recycled clothing (i.e. clothing made from recycled textiles). Clearly, more can be done on an individual as well as on a national level to combat needless waste and homelessness.

One way to pitch in is to make clothing donations to charity. Donating clothes to charity is an easy and wonderful way of helping families in need — or, really, anyone in need — of clothing. There are several charities to support in this end, and charitable donations will not go unnoticed. In fact, there are more than 1.5 million tax-exempt non-profit organization across the country, and nearly all of them can provide tax-exemption forms for those who donate. No matter what the reason, though, donating clothing to charity will truly help those who, for a number of reasons, cannot help themselves. Check out this site for more.