Receiving

People are thoughtlessly adding an extra step by dropping off physical items for our visitors at places from which they'll need to be moved and then taken to locations and organizations where there are people experienced in sorting them according to how useful they are. Seeing photographs of all the heaps of "stuff" gives a queasy feeling to some of us. Austin is good-hearted, but someone wasn't thinking clearly at first. Now, the City information site reports a temporary hold on donations. People will need new underwear, new shoes, new socks, and ways and places to get clean. Usually, the Salvation Army does this best. In addition, all will need at least brief physical examinations. I bet that many will need spectacles in order to be able to see. We remember the cartons of useless everything that well-intentioned people used to pay to send to "help." And then it had to be sorted. And then most of it had to be disposed of, and in a location where disposing of anything not fairly immediately biodegradable posed a real problem.