Charitable Donations

[PAL_Houston]

I would bet most of you, like me, have a hoard of stuff for which they have no need, no plans, and no market.   For instance, I have some used but serviceable code 80 track, and functional freight cars and locomotives, and even some items of scenery and electrical equipment for which there've been no takers on the various available websites.

Do any of you belong to clubs or organizations that do charitable work, like building and raffling off layouts in order to make charitable donations, or to give to disadvantaged kids around the holidays?

Would you be interested in donations?

How would that work?

Be interested to hear your thoughts and ideas about this.

Regards,
Paul

[TiVoPrince]

Few  
more posts and the answer how/where to sell stuff will reveal itself...

[TiVoPrince]

Perhaps  
something similar to the ARS Technica Forum's 'Perpetual Freebies Thread' might work in the trading post here...

[JSL]

The N Trak club I belong to raffles off a layout each year. We cap our ticket sales at 3500 and donate a chunck to Childrens Hospital. Most of the layout is constructed with donated stuff from club members.

JSL

[PAL_Houston]

The N Trak club I belong to raffles off a layout each year. We cap our ticket sales at 3500 and donate a chunck to Childrens Hospital. Most of the layout is constructed with donated stuff from club members.

JSL

This is the kind of reply I was looking for...

I would be happy to donate stuff and free shipping.  If you guys are interested, I will prepare a list of stuff I have, and you can tell me whether it'd be useful for your project and where to send it.   In fact, I might be persuaded to provide a cash donation to the cause 

Regards,
Paul

[daniel_leavitt2000]

How about donating it to a children's hospital?
<<ducks for cover.

[PAL_Houston]

How about donating it to a children's hospital?
<<ducks for cover.

Why not?  Do you have one in mind?  Tell us about it...

I think the general concept is putting spare stuff (including spare cash, or spare time  ) to a good use.

REgards,
Paul

[daniel_leavitt2000]

It was a reference to a huge thread on Atlas a few years ago when a teenager asked for donations of equipment for a hospital layout but ended up going to his collection instead. It was one if the longest, loudest, angriest threads in Atlas history.

I'm still mourning...

[PAL_Houston]

I wouldn't even mind donating stuff to a kid interested in model railroading.    What would be the downside of that?

[ArtinCA]

Another group would be Wounded Warrior. They may have a use for something... http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Saw something in Fine Scale Modeler about IPMS giving kits for them to give to vets.

[mecgp7]

I wouldn't even mind donating stuff to a kid interested in model railroading.    What would be the downside of that?

A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned that he had a neighbor whose young son was interested in N scale trains, but that funds were very low for the family at the time. He was interested in coal and the PRR. I just happened to have some PRR equipment including a couple locos and some coal hoppers. I boxed them up and sent them to the kid.  A few weeks later I received a handwritten letter from the young man thanking me and telling me about his interest in trains. When is the last time you remember getting a handwritten letter? His obvious enthusiasm and thank you were worth far more than I would have ever gotten out of the sale of the stuff.

[C855B]

Another donation possibility to consider: local history museums. Many, many towns have a history museum of some sort, sometimes even housed in a former train station. Railroad-themed pieces are frequently a part of these displays, and many have layouts, some specifically constructed for the museum. Nearly all of these are registered charitable corporations, so donations are tax deductible.

I am the model trains support person for our local history museum. The layout(s) and equipment were donated years ago by members of the community who were cleaning-out estates. Since ours is an old railroad town where the dominant employer for a century was the IC, railroad memorabilia are prominently displayed. There are two layouts, one a three-loop Lionel setup, the other an elevated G-scale loop. No N yet, but that will be fixed once I get the other displays restored to operation and curated to better represent the local history.