spring cleaning goes green
Tidying up for a better world
Words by Molly Apel
Photos by Oriana von Specht
What do you do with your unwanted items that still have good life in them? Spring cleaning feels best when you can donate these items a good cause. Before you lump your unwanted goods in a pile, set aside key items that could be reused locally. Many organizations around the area will help connect the items you no longer want with people who need them.
The Sisterhood of the Donated Dress
Closets contain memories of special occasions and wonderful experiences. Parting with outfits attached to those memories can be difficult. But donating a fancy frock to the Bainbridge Island Community Dress Closet will not only clear space in your closet, it can help create happy new memories for someone else. The unique dress-loaning project is run by Ava Staniewicz and her mom, Patty, who help people create sensational looks for special occasions.
The pair started the program to help others save time and money and to divert clothing from landfills. Each year, as much as 92 million tons of clothing ends up in landfills, while only 20 percent of textiles are collected for reuse or recycling globally, according to theroundup.org.
“It’s been really rewarding, knowing that we’re benefiting the environment,” Ava says. “And when stores are far away, we’re helping people avoid the cost and annoyance of ordering several dresses and having to return ones that don’t fit.”
Grace Apel contacted the Dress Closet in 2022 when she couldn’t find a dress she liked for the Bainbridge High School prom. On prom night, she stood out with a beautiful, uniquely styled silver gown on loan from the mother-daughter team. Borrowing a dress is free if the garment is professionally cleaned after use, and scholarships are available to pay for cleaning.
To donate jewelry, shoes and dresses or to offer assistance with alterations, contact Staniewicz. Also consider a tax-deductible monetary donation to cover garment storage and cleaning costs.
Back to Health? Help Another Heal
Larry Devlin has the calm and confident demeanor of a Hollywood cowboy, and in real life, he saves the day for many in Kitsap County who return home from a hospital stay with limited mobility. Devlin manages the Knights Community Hospital Equipment Lend Program (KC HELP), which loans out wheelchairs, bath and shower chairs, lift chairs and hospital-style beds, all free of charge.
When people come to KC HELP for assistance, they tend to need it immediately. After Judy Morgan of Poulsbo broke her hip and shoulder in 2021, she returned home from the hospital needing devices to help her get around the house, shower and walk up her front stairs. “I just made the call and they scheduled a time for my husband to pick everything up,” she recalled. “I only needed the gear for a few weeks, and if I ordered it, who knows how long I would have had to wait for it to arrive. Buying it to use temporarily would have been so wasteful.”
KC HELP provided 3,800 much-needed items to roughly 1,800 people in 2023. Devlin and his team accept donations, including walkers, wheelchairs and bathroom safety equipment, at warehouses and storerooms that serve Silverdale, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island and the KC HELP shop in the Bremerton St. Vincent de Paul.
Devlin says it’s been incredibly rewarding to help people in need, adding “As a staff of all volunteers, the pay isn’t great, but the gratitude is wonderful.”
In addition to equipment donations, KC HELP is seeking donated commercial space. The organization will soon be displaced from St. Vincent de Paul and is outgrowing its Bainbridge location. Assistance with repairing equipment as well as monetary donations to pay for insurance and other expenses are also welcome.
Removing Barriers to The Great Outdoors
Activities like hiking, biking and snowshoeing aren’t for everybody—but they could be if everyone had access to the right gear. “If we can get more people to experience the wilderness, we’ll create more advocates for the outdoors,” says Stacey Stoner, who loans outdoor gear through the Gearbank as Bainbridge Island Parks & Recreation Outdoor Program Manager.
The Parks District’s Gearbank has a collection of backpacks, snowshoes, bikes, bear canisters, sleeping pads (you get the picture) available for rent for a minimal fee. They offer classes and trips for people, regardless of whether they have the appropriate gear. “We take people on biking trips, snowshoeing trips, and even overnight trips into the Olympics, so we have to have everything from backpacks to balaclavas,” says Stoner. Outdoor activities are hard on gear, so the equipment is rotated out often, which means Gearbank is always in need of more supplies.
Gearbank accepts all kinds of used outdoor gear. Children’s gear is especially appreciated.
