Alicia Abelson
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) The Goodwill of Greater Washington has made it easier than ever to donate clothes, shoes and accessories through their new mail-in donation program called the Goodwill Pack & Ship Donation Service.

The pilot-program is the first of it’s kind in the country and allows for donors to mail donations of clothing, shoes, and accessories to Goodwill at no cost. Goodwill is expecting the revenue from resale of the donated goods to surpass the offset of the cost of delivery.

People wishing to donate items to Goodwill of Greater Washington can visit packandship.dcgoodwill.org, schedule a date and time for their donation to be picked up by the U.S. Postal Service, print a mailing label, and place the donation box on their front porch. Goodwill will email donation receipts to donors once their package has been received.

Brendan Hurley, Chief Marketing Officer for Goodwill of Greater Washington says that one of Goodwill’s primary initiatives is to get closer to the donor, “The idea is to try to make the donation process as simple and as efficient as possible for the donor. We can’t think of a better way to get closer to the donor than to reach them right inside their own homes.”

The program was launched right before Christmas. According to Hurley its popularity is expected to boom between Christmas and New Year, “The week between Christmas and New Year is the busiest week of the year for the donation of household goods.”

While Goodwill encourages all donations, it doesn’t encourage the shipping of heavy items such as appliances, furniture, or books because the postal service has a 70 lb. weight limit on mailing items.

All donations help fund job training and employment services for people with disabilities and disadvantages for people in the Washington D.C. area.

Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Goodwill)