Downsizing for Good

Calling all not for profits in New Haven County! I have an opportunity for you.

As the recipient of an Innovation Grant from RecycleCT, I am contacting not-for-profits in New Haven County seeking wish lists of gently used goods that will benefit their organizations. I will be compiling this information into a resource called “The Downsizing Donation Guide,” a best practices guide for donating goods to not-for-profits in New Haven County. 

This project’s major goal is to keep useful items being downsized or discarded from people’s homes out of the waste stream and out of recycling bins, directly benefitting groups that can use them. 

Anyone who has tried to downsize their own belonging or those of a loved one is familiar with the problem. There are so many potentially useful things and the prospect of finding them a good home is daunting. 

It is my hope that this e-guide will benefit both agencies (who need specific items) and those who are downsizing (who don't).

The material will be organized in the form of a pdf booklet, broken into two alphabetical sections. 

• The first part of the booklet is a listing of goods, arranged alphabetically by category, along with the agency(ies) accepting a given type of item, such as “books."
• The second part is an alphabetical compilation of participating agencies. Each agency has a page that includes a mission statement, a wish list, and clear instructions for making donations.

I am working with HomeHavenVillages.org, a not-for-profit serving Greater New Haven, whose mission is to support its members’ desire to remain in their own homes as they grow older.  When completed in April, “The Downsizing Donation Guide” will be shared with the participating agencies, distributed through HomeHaven’s email list, and posted on such sites as RecycleCT, public libraries, and the recycling section of each city and town’s website.

If you would like to participate in this project or have a suggestion for an agency to include, please email DownsizingDonationGuide@piroet.com for more information.

I am trying to publicize as many agencies as possible and to solicit as wide a range of donations as possible. So please participate!

Thank you! I look forward to hearing from you soon.