Of all my firsts, my big clothing drive was the biggest, and I just finished it. It was a massive commitment. I started collecting in May, and finally delivered the goods on June 21.

This all started because I thought it would be fun to host a book swap with some friends, get some free books for summer, and then donate the rest to our local libraries for their spring book sales.

While I was planning that I saw an email from Savers (which might be called Savers, Value Village, or 2nd Ave/2A Thrift if you have one where you live) saying I could raise money for my favorite charity by collecting clothing, books, and other household goods.

So I filled out the form, and talked to a representative on the phone, and I said, “Sure, I’ll give it a go.”

To reach my donation goal ($500) they told me I would need about 200 bags of clothing and “soft goods”. Honestly, I had no idea what 200 bags looked like, but I quickly realized it was a lot more than I thought it was.

I tried a number of different techniques to collect:

• Hosted a party and asked people to donate
• Set up a collecting station at a public event
• Had a giant collection box at a local office building
• Offered to pick up bags and boxes at people’s homes (5 took me up on this!)
• Picked up purged items from 2 local thrift stores
• Collected all of the unclaimed lost and found items from 4 local schools
• Took ALL of the purged books from a local library’s collection
• Cleaned the heck out of my own closets

In the end I had so much stuff I couldn’t use my garage for a month, and I needed to rent a 12 ft box truck to get it all to Savers (they do pay for the truck, which was nice). My husband, daughter and I loaded it all into the truck together. It took us about an hour. We filled the hatchback of our Subaru as well with the overflow.

The final result: 3,599 pounds of stuff – over 2,000 lbs of clothing, and over 1,000 lbs of books! And each pound of that stuff I have carried at least once, maybe twice. It’s like a slow burn Crossfit workout. My biceps are looking amazing from the efforts.

And the donation? $518, above my original goal.

In the past, I had given about $600 a year to this non-profit through a monthly $50 donation. Since I have stopped working full-time, I no longer give monthly, but I really wanted to make that same impact, and this wacky project allowed me to do that.

What was the big so what of this project? It was giving back, of course. It was about taking my dedication to living sustainably and inviting others to join me. It was about challenging myself to ask other people to help, and seeing how many people I could influence with my request. And most of all, it was seeing something that seemed outrageous and showing myself I could do it.

As for grief management (or just general anxiety and depression management, something I know lots of people are looking for right now), a project like this sure is a great distraction from whatever other feelings you might be feeling. It was also an opportunity to see over and over again how much people really want to give and help. I know if all you look at is the news and social media, it seems like most people are ready to cuff each other in the face (or worse) at any given moment. But my past month and a half has been full of some of the sweetest, most thoughtful interactions with loved ones and strangers both.

Watching all of that cast off merchandise get loaded into the warehouse was pretty amazing, too. I hope every sweatshirt, tea kettle, book, and random tchotchke will make its way to a new home where it will be loved.

There were items that belonged to my dad and mother in law in that giant pile. And probably things that belonged to other people who are no longer with us. Bearing witness to all the stuff we leave behind as we grow out of it, or leave this earth – it was just another way I realized what an immense impact we all have on the world and each other.

If you are feeling frisky and want to host your own, here’s a referral link to the program: https://share.fundrive.savers.com/jessicapessica!e46e599b76!a

(You get some extra $$ for using it, and so does my charity, Mill City Grows).