Water: spirit lifting, thirst quenching, life sustaining – water. As the mercury rises on these hot summer weekends, many of us head off to our favourite beaches in search of reprieve, dipping our toes in the sea. We may even think about campfire bans and the reports warning us of summer drought, or how the folks up in Fort MacMurray are doing now that they are resettling into their homes. Then we might ask ourselves, what more can we do to protect our most precious natural resource? One solution, is to rethink and reuse our clothing and textiles – it’s good for the earth, our water supply and people too.

For example, did you know it can take over 1,800 gallons of water to make one pair of jeans? Or over 700 gallons of water to make one new cotton t-shirt? That’s more water than you drink in five years. The average person in North America throws away more than 81 pounds of textile waste annually, much of which ends up in the landfill. Landfills shouldn’t, and don’t have to be laundry piles. The environmental impact of clothing waste is massive, calling on each of us to do what we can to make a difference.

Why not ensure that you extend the lifespan of your textiles by donating them to our Clothes Drop collection enterprise? As consumers, we may not even realize the problem that has arisen from our consumption of textiles. When we reuse and extend the useful life of goods, we can co-create an even better and more sustainable world!

Not only does this clothing collection initiative lighten the load on our planet, it also enhances the lives of people with developmental disabilities. Currently, the majority of our revenue comes from government funded contracts, which cannot be used for a variety of expenditures, such as the purchasing of wheelchair vans (our current wheelchair vans are over 15 years old), technology (for office use or client related purposes), service development (innovation), repairs and maintenance (residential homes), accessibility related renovations, service equipment (specialized bathtubs, tracks and lifts), and more.

Our goal is to create an independent revenue stream that would allow us to invest in enhancing our services to improve the quality of life for those whom we support. In addition, the revenue earned from Clothes Drop will eventually help to financially support initiatives in our employment service, Kudoz (a learning exchange matching people with a passion to share for a splendid learning experience), Building Caring Communities (an initiative delivered by community connectors who foster relationships and partnerships amongst citizens, businesses, faith groups, neighbourhoods and community associations) and overall, will contribute to the sustainability of our service delivery system.

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Building Caring Communities

So the next time you’re cleaning out your closet, don’t just throw your items out – think of us and donate! We make collection easy by offering street side bins (click here for locations), free home pickups, smaller exterior bins, portable indoor containers and clothing drives. We collect clothes, bedding, towels (gently used, torn or stained items are accepted too), accessories, shoes, and small housewares. We’ve already diverted 91,844 lbs from landfills (think of seven, huge African bush elephants!)

We are excited about this journey and hope you will be a part of it. Help us create inclusive, sustainable and vibrant communities. Please visit https://posabilities.ca/support-our-work/ and contact us by calling 778-945-3356 or emailing [email protected] .

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