The following article was contributed by Wilton Go Green.
Wilton Go Green has launched the Fairfield County Donation Guide, a Fairfield County resident’s where-to resource for donating old, honest, good-condition items that are looking for a new home.
Has remote working prompted an upgrade from a pour-over coffee maker to a high-end espresso machine with neither the countertop space nor the pantry room to store your old one? Do you no longer spend hours on the baseball field with your children and have extra, unused equipment? Did you impulsively buy a beautiful set of gardening tools with the hopes of starting a new hobby only for the tools to collect dust on the garage shelf? Did you recently find a collection of nostalgic children’s books that you hope can be loved by other children, as much as they were loved by your own?
Change is normal. And with change, people buy new things to better fit their new lifestyles. As people begin using new things — update bedding, buy new-sized clothing, use different hair products, etc. — old things often sit unused in the back of closets, cabinets and pantries. It’s not long before the new things are placed in front of the old, and the sets of sheets, piles of clothing, and shampoo bottles that are hiding behind are forgotten.
Wilton Go Green wanted to create a guide dedicated to finding the perfect sustainable place for old, unneeded, unwanted stuff that may have once served a need perfectly, but now does nothing more than take up space in a house.
Donation locations exist across the county and items accepted vary from school supplies and medical equipment to jewelry and accessories. Wilton Go Green created the Guide with the intention that old items will be put to good reuse. So even if someone is parting with their children’s sentimental picture books, they can find comfort in the fact that a child in the neighboring town will soon be captivated by their new copy of Harry the Dirty Dog.
The Fairfield County Donation Guide is meant to be a primary reference playbook for all donations and complement other more mainstream spots like Minks-to-Sinks and local consignment shops. Part of Wilton Go Green’s mission is to always look for new and easy ways to help the community reduce, reuse, and recycle.
The Guide can be found online on Wilton Go Green’s website. When using the Guide, users can take notice of each location’s specific donation days and times, and can call if unsure whether an item will be accepted. The online guide is a living document that Wilton Go Green will modify and update with new information, and community members are encouraged to recommend (via email) other organizations to which they have donated and would like to see added to the guide.