How do you define value? In the case of holding onto clothing and personal possessions, often it is emotional. One day…What if… Consider for a moment, value expressed in terms of usefulness. So, if you have not used something as it was intended and it is just lying around taking up space, would that not be a waste?

What if a piece of clothing or accessory you have wasting away in your closet could be worth thousands of dollars?

Here is a charitable organization that you may not know about. This Vancouver-based initiative might be just the charitable cause and motivation you need to assist you in letting go of the “What If…” in your life.

Working Gear is as a non-profit society that undertakes the work similar to that done by Dress for Success. Dress for Success works with women of modest means who are unemployed, by providing them with professional clothing in which they can attend job interviews and start a new job.

Working Gear does the same type of work with a focus on providing support and help to men in the Vancouver downtown and downtown eastside. They solicit business casual clothing and construction clothing and redistribute them to men who are making a serious attempt to return to work. This is a free service provided in tandem with local employment service agencies.

As you undertake to loose those last 10 pounds (the same ones that you have been trying to loose for the last 10 years), you might consider a fresh start by donating your never and under-used dress shirts and ties, business casual clothing, or steel-toed work boots.

Doing so might create the opportunity for an under-employed person to start a new job – a job worth thousands of dollars in income – a job that might not have been accessible to someone because they did not have interview-appropriate or work-site appropriate clothing to wear.