Charity offices in the Kingdom have recently moved to desist from accepting used clothes to be donated to poor people owing to insufficient space to store them and are accepting cash donations only.
Consequently, many donors have resorted to putting their used clothes beside mosques which can be picked up by anyone. Sometimes, they are sold off for a small profit without reaching the poor people they were destined for.
“I used to donate my used clothes via a charity office every year but it has stopped receiving clothes anymore. I was surprised when the officials told me that they will only accept financial donations,” Ibrahim Amer, a resident in Jeddah told Arab News adding that he now deposits his used clothes near a mosque hoping that they will reach the needy.
There are more than 80 private charities operating in Jeddah but there are no precise statistics on the beneficiaries. Most of these charities focus on the poor people within the Kingdom.
Ahmad Hussain, a charity office manager in Jeddah explained, “There are some charity associations which are still receiving used clothes but most of them have temporarily stopped owing to the lack of storage space.”
However, many mosques are playing an important role by receiving these used clothes in a special box they have put outside to enable donors to put their items in, he added.
“It is a shame to put your old clothes in the garbage when they are still good to go and there are many poor people who could use them. I am glad that the mosques are compensating the role of the charity offices by putting out big boxes to collect used clothes to give to the needy,” Abu Muhanad said.
Charity offices refuse used clothes
