Traditionally, spring is the time when people decide to prepare the garden, clean the house and get rid of the clutter of winter.
It's also the time when my wife decides we can't live another week without assembling one of those do-it-yourself arches over our front walk. For my part, I pray for rain.
But I digress.
The didactic, do-gooder-ly point we need to make here is that spring - when things are just itching to grow - is also the season when donations at thrift stores and charities slow down.
Well-respected, above-reproach charities such as the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, Seattle's Union Gospel Mission and Goodwill.
Accordingly, a lot of these organizations must carefully watch their costs, play it close to the vest and reserve resources needed for their programs that serve so many low-income and underserved people.
They must do this even though need knows no season.
Friends of these charities have respectfully suggested to us - and we respectfully suggest to you in turn - that you extend the spring-cleaning ritual to include a trip to your favorite local do-gooder organization to donate the gently used goods taking up useful space at home.
Donations of gently used goods do more than support charity operations. The revenue from sales of such goods pays for free educational, job-training and assistance programs for our most needy populations.
The unemployed.
People without homes.
New arrivals.
And this'll make you feel better about your part in the process: Unlike for-profit stores and organizations that collect and resell used goods, the net revenue from sales at nonprofit thrifts goes directly into the service programs.
Which is what really counts.
For more information about what and where to donate, here are some Web sites you can visit or phone numbers you can call:
*The Salvation Army, www.nwarmy.org or 800-95-TRUCK
*Union Mission Gospel, www.ugm.org or 723-5700
*St. Vincent de Paul, 767-6449
*Goodwill, www.seattlegoodwill.org or 877-GIVE4GOOD
Now, don't you feel more like part of the ecosystem?
Or something.
Richard Jameson edits the Queen Anne News, an associate publication.
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