There are many non profit organizations targeted on helping the homeless and less fortunate. A Lot of these organizations depend on Corporate, Small Business and Public Donations. Unfortunately it seems there is never enough money, clothing or food. They are always in need of more. Local businesses donate money, grocery stores donate food and the public donates clothing. These are just some of the example of what gets donate to various organizations. Shelters in my opinion are the ones that could really use an extra helping hand and benefit the most from previously owned unwanted items.

Walmart, Canadian Tire, Toys-R-Us, All billion dollar Corporations. Did you ever wonder what these businesses do with the items that consumers return? What about the items that are returned that have absolutely nothing wrong with them? Many consumers return items simply because they over spent.

A few years back I was doing a study on the lives of homeless youth. I wanted to know how they supported themselves, what resources they used and why they were in the situation they were in. A common response to a part of their survival seemed to be "dumpster diving". A popular term which meant they would scrummage through the the dumpsters of local businesses. Canadian Tire seemed to be the favourable dumpster. Apparently their dumpster is a gold mine. Most of the items retrieved were tools and small kitchen appliances. How does this benefit a homeless person? They would take the items back into the store, return them and get cash. I was pretty amazed. I always though that most of the items we returned were put back on the shelves or shipped back. I was intrigued and wanted to know more. Upon further investigation I discovered most of the items in the dumpster would have the cords cut or be smashed. However this did not discourage the homeless youth. One youth in particular showed me how he easily fixed the items with the cords cut. Simply take the cord of an item that was smashed, (those items usually had a perfectly uncut cord). The homeless youth then took the item in need of a cord apart. The item was a craftsman drill. He cut the cord shorter, so that the connection was hid inside the drill. He then put it back together. The drill looked brand new. We then walked to a building that had an outside plug. Voila, the drill worked.

Here in Canada we all know that Walmart is a United States based company. So not much of the money it makes it being put back into the community. Sure they donate to Non-Profit Organizations here but they could be doing more. One of the most common issues with homeless people is their lack of decent footwear. Instead of throwing returned sneakers into the dumpster why don't they give them to our local shelters. I've seen what shoes the local shelters have and trust me I would rather go around bare foot and in sock feet than put on what they have to offer.

Instead of smashing and cutting up the returned housewares, why don't these Businesses donate the stuff to Women In Need or the Salvation Army. Women In Need in particular has a program where they will furnish an entire apartment at no cost to the person in need.

Instead of cutting cords of tools why don't these businesses donate the tools to the local municipality or shelters or job skills programs. There are programs set up that give people receiving financial assistance money to buy tools for their first job. Imagine the money that could be saved if there were a ready supply of tools. Tools are pretty expensive. I know one job skills program in particular that gives recipients up to $200 dollars to buy the necessary supplies for their first job. Who covers that cost? Our local Municipality. Most recipients receiving financial assistance are required to take some kind of job skills program. Why can't all the work related returned merchandise be donated to those job skills programs.

What about single parents who can't afford to buy their children toys or games? There are so many programs set up for single parents through the local community centers. Why can't Toys-R-Us donate the returned toys to their local community centers.

I went to a lot of the mentioned Businesses dumpsters with some of the homeless youth to see what kind of stuff was being smashed up. A Lot of the items had nothing wrong with them. These corporations were smashing items and cutting cords just because they did not want the dumpster divers to return the perfectly good merchandise. I can understand these corporations not wanting the dumper items to be re-returned. I CAN NOT comprehend how they go about achieving that goal. There is definitely another solution. Sure it make take a lot of time and effort to set something else up, but in the end all their effort would help our economy. It may not may a huge difference, but it would be a notable and ethical one.