Now that we're moving at the same pace, inspired by the raw feeling emanating from Mr. Withers, let me take you someplace "Where Unsold Clothes Meet People in Need."
This came up on my Google Reader (a new obsession of mine -- it's an RSS reader, and I'm addicted to news! Also using it to follow all of our class's Blog updates!), and it's about people making big changes. They're not making big changes by doing anything profoundly new or anything that you or I couldn't think of -- they're just doing something.
Here's what's going on: a lady named Suzanne Davis runs an organization, the New York Clothing Bank, that collects unworn clothes that manufacturing companies are, for whatever reason, not going to sell, but destroy. Tons and tons of items from these companies are destroyed when they can't be sold, and she has encouraged them to donate them to NYCB instead, for distribution to 250 different aid groups who then get them into the hands of those in need. Pretty cool.
Obviously, there are business issues with this, as the article mentions, where companies could be potentially "competing with their garbage" for customers, and also have issues with trying to maintain an image, wanting their clothes to be seen on successful people and not on people sitting on street corners. These are legitimate issues, but they're obviously being worked around, evident since companies like Macy's and Gap have contributed.
What's produced around here that may have excess and could keep somebody warm, clothed, and happy? Heck, if it's one extra pair of shoes or one extra sweater, those are each things that would make one big difference to one person.
What about food?
I know that restaurants and fast-food places throw out their leftovers or "expired" food after a certain amount of time. I put "expired" in quotes because I'm pretty sure that this isn't just talking about food that's gone bad -- it includes things that have just gone cold, or sat out for a bit while people haven't bought them. Example: French fries are always being made, and fast-food restaurants throw out the old ones (if any are left) when they toss new ones under the hot light to be ready to sell; the old ones aren't exactly growing mold, they're just not hot/fresh and going to make paying customers as happy as hot ones.
Anecdotal justification :)
Say you're like me, and you live in a small town back home that doesn't have any fast-food places (quite a stretch for some of you, I know!), and so you grab a #2 medium roast beef and curly-fries from Arby's and make the 20-minute drive home. When you get there, it's obviously not going to be as fresh as it was when you left the drive-thru. But it' not bad. Food wouldn't have been sitting out for any longer than this before they threw it out. I realize it wouldn't still be getting eaten just yet, but it would be quite soon after. Why still throw it away?
I don't know the specifics liabilities are here -- What if somebody does get sick from this "expired" food from [restaurant]? One could argue that someone in this position would be desperate enough to use this leverage against the restaurant to demand some sort of compensation from the restaurant since the food was given away as unwanted or expired.
Anyway, the possibility is interesting. There must be other things out there like this that are being looked over. ...That extra pan of meat loaf that nobody touched in the school cafeteria, perhaps, which may mysteriously be recycled into chef's choice casserole the next day?
I'll be on the lookout.
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