A week before Christmas I was shopping in a very popular chain store and as I was standing in line waiting for another woman to make her return I heard an employee tell her co-worker, “Put those in the trash bin, I think she wore them.”
She was talking about the woman ahead of me and her returned pair of rain boots. Yup, boots. We can go to the bowling alley and wear shoes that have been on a thousand pairs of feet. It’s become trendy to shop for vintage clothing in thrift stores, and after having my first yard sale this fall I noticed it’s quite popular for many to buy old tattered clothes from complete strangers. So, why are department stores and big name chains throwing out goods that get returned instead of donating them to charities?
And, it’s not just material things.
FOOD!
You’ve seen the ads on TV- 1 in every 8 Americans are starving.
Grocery stores and restaurants throw away so much food at the end of the night instead of donating to food banks. Dumpster diving is a hot new American trend and the people doing it have even named themselves “Freegans.” They’re not all poor or homeless. Some people just can’t stand to see good food go to waste.
I’m not suggesting you need to run out and join the groups that are diving into big metal boxes in alley ways. But, something should be done to end hunger in a country with a great amount of surplus.
Businesses, big and small have no liability, which means no excuses. All thanks to the Good Samaritan Act.
Are we heartless and self absorbed? No, maybe just too lazy to do the right thing.
Charities like Purple Heart pick up donations at your door. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
When people are hungry they aren’t going to be choosey and when they need clothes on their backs, irregular garments with one sleeve slightly longer than the other will not matter. Fashion sense is replaced with common sense on a needy person’s list of priorities.
I’m not a bit needy, and I would have taken the boots that got thrown away in front of me in the popular store that I shop at frequently.
I pray that we always have food to fuel our bodies and clothing to keep us covered.
“Slightly used” appears new to someone doing without. And, “Slightly Outdated” tastes delicious when you’re starving.
Waste is a terrible thing to do. It’s also a terrible insult to the world around us.
