Question about knitting for charity

[rokeon]

I'm brand new to knitting, but I learned when I got into making chainmail that my ideal project is not one that has an overly firm due date; I'm the sort of person who starts a project, forgets it exists for six months, then finds the supplies buried under a stack of books and sits down to finish the whole thing in two days without sleep. So I'm looking for charity programs that either accept donations continuously or reoccur every year.

I can find a million search results about charity knitting, but some of them (like helmetliners for soldiers) seem to be defunct and others are just hard to judge from their webpages. Does anybody have any organizations they'd recommend?

Comments

[james]

I donate to The Bridge Project which collects items year 'round. And they give to a variety of places in their area, so basically if you knit it, they can find someone to take it. (Within reason - lace doilies for a table? Not so much. But any clothing item or bedding, yes.)

The focus is keeping homeless folks warm during winters in Ohio, so the primary focus is warm (thick) hats, scarves, mittens. But every month there is a specific focus for projects like squares for putting into blankets, or cotton dishcloths. But even when an item isn't a month's focus, they'll accept items donated for the cause. (The only exception is wool squares for putting into blankets. They store these until they're put into a blanket and it's basically one lady making them into blankets so she doesn't want them sitting around in the way until she's ready for them.) but everything else gets passed along year 'round and so is accepted year 'round.

I've been donating for about two+ years now and she shows every sign of going strong for years to come!

[rokeon]

That made me think to look up the site for my local homeless help group, and they do indeed accept winter clothes and accessories year-round. We don't have a permanent shelter, just a temporary one that they set up when it starts getting cold. I know they're always short on beds, I'm sure the other supplies would be welcome too.

[james]

Oh, excellent! Helping locally always helps on shipping costs as well. ;-)

Sometimes we do 'toiletry' packs for the shelter, like travel sizes of shampoo and hand wipes and deoderant, along with handknit washcloths. And stuff like slippers are quick and easy to make, and shelter residents can wear 'em while washing out and drying their socks.