Alternative Use!

[Dawn Duntley]

I love alternative use.  You're probably scratching your head right now asking what does that have to do with giving?  Well, let me tell you...you probably already know.

 

I am a big believer in recycling.  I recycle at home.  I handle the recycling in my department at work and I even write a recycling piece for the company newsletter called "Living Green". With that said let me explain. 

 

Alternative use is not only the thought of what else can I do with this, but what else can someone other than me do with this. Instead of taking your old books to the bookstore reseller to see how little they will give you for that expense book you paid for, how about gifting them to your local library.  I live in a relatively small community and the selection is not as grand as the big city.

 

If you have old puzzles and games that are in good shape and have all the pieces, instead of just donating these items to an organization for resale, stop by a retirement community or senior citizen center and donate these items for them to enjoy.

 

Those bottles of shampoo, conditioner, soap and lotion that you pick up in hotels while you are traveling, that generally sit in your toiletry bag until your next trip, donate to a center for battered woman and children.  They are often in need of travel size items to help families fleeing from domestic violent situations.

 

Did you know you can donate your old eyeglasses to the Lion’s Club and they will get them to a person in need?

 

If your children have outgrown the books they read, skill level I mean, take them to a nearby hospital to be put to good use in a children’s ward.

 

If you have long hair and drastically change your look, you can donate your hair to a person going through cancer who has lost theirs.

 

If you have unused stuffed animals lying around just taking up space, offer them to the police department.  Some police departments use stuffed animals to calm the children when they are called to an emergency for one reason or another.

 

This is alternative use.  This is giving outside the box.  This can change a moment in time, or change someone’s life.  There are millions of things like this we all can do.  Please, if you have ideas to add I’d love to hear them.

 

[Rozsi]

Thank you for these ideas.

[Cami Walker -- 29Gifts Founder]

loved a lot of these ideas. thanks for sharing.

[crimes1975]

THANK YOU for writing this!!!!! GREAT ideas!!!!!!!!!! I love it!

[Sabriyah Fatimah]

I've been doing this for years but didn't know what it was called. I don't like not using things when someone else needs them. Very good idea about giving stuffed animals to the police dept.

[Mary Johnson]

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll bring my next stack of magazines to the home where my dad used to live.

Mary

[former shelterdweller]

Great ideas, please don't forget used Magazines for the Senior Centers or the Hospital. If you have a garden or fruit trees any surplus is put to good use at your local shelter, the same with outgrown children's clothing and shoes. School is starting pretty soon, if you possible can please buy some extra supplies for shelter children and drop them off.
Before I became a "shelter dweller" I used to "adopt" a family from one of the tent cities and would take mom and kids shopping for school stuff. I would buy a Walmart or Target Gift Card for each child (whatever I could afford, usually $100.00 each kid) and treat them to lunch and provide transportation.

[Tamiko Paquette]

This is exactly what I have been looking for as I prepare for "Serviam" meaning "I server" for my classroom students. This is our motto for our Mount Merici School founded by the Ursuline Sisters. THe ideas are things that even children can do without frunning to their parents and asking them for money or to buy another fundraiser product. Thank you so much!

[Fiona Campbell]

thanks for these ideas, they are really cool.

[Caitlin]

Ah, thank you for the NAME
Alternative Use ...
nice way to rethink how we try to live and teach our daughter.

[Tamiko Paquette]

This holiday season I am eliminating wrapping paper! I have decided to use the recyclable shopping bags and tissue paper tied with a big bow around the handles! Store have such pretty ones these days. I am also using dcorative tins--not holiday-ish so that the people I give them to can use them year round along with the gift I give them inside! It's like getting 2 gifts in one!

[Mary Johnson]

Tamiko:

Just saw your idea for wrapping gifts in reusable shopping bags - a gift in a gift and a gift to the Earth! Love it.

[Lynn Davis (Pooh)]

Those are great ideas! I already recycle my books and magazines, but I hadn't thought of the stuffed animals. Thanks!