Christine Nyirjesy Bragale, spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, said most people identify Goodwill as a retail organization first but people who have donated know there�s more to it.

The bottom line for the big three--Goodwill, AMVETS and Salvation Army--is that selling clothes is not their main business; helping people is. Each of these organizations operates a chain of thrift stores to help fund their ongoing service projects.

Goodwill Industries International is a workforce organization comprised of 207 community based-member organizations that administer job training and placement programs for people with workplace disadvantages and disabilities. Though still under the Goodwill umbrella, each agency operates as an independent, non-profit organization with its own CEO and director. Each agency is funded, in part, by the Goodwill thrift stores in its region.

�Retail operations are a critical component of Goodwill,� said Nyirjesy Bragale. Fifty-five percent of the revenue for Goodwill projects comes from the nearly 2000 stores across the U.S. and Canada, with other revenue generated by Goodwill�s contract labor services to businesses and government.

Goodwill also receives funding from donations and corporate, foundation and government grants. Eighty-five percent of this overall revenue is funneled into Goodwill�s mission- based projects. What money gets allocated to which projects is up to the individual agencies.

Goodwill of Greater Washington serves the District and ten surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. It operates thrift stores, a vehicle donation program, a salvage program and a custodial cleaning business that serves clients in both the government and area businesses.

All four of these programs create job opportunities, which help transform their recipients from tax consumers into tax payers.

�That is our entire mission in life, to help people with disadvantages and disabilities get jobs,� said Joe Davis, Director of Communications for Goodwill of Greater Washington, which aided over 1400 people in 2002 alone.

If a donated item makes it past Goodwill�s selection process, it will most likely go out on the floor of a store. However, Goodwill offers another venue for the sale of its donations--shopgoodwill.com, an Internet auction site which Nyirjesy Bragale boasts is �better than eBay.�

Owned by the Goodwill Industries of Orange County, 80 other agencies pay to sell their products on the site. Items up for bid represent everything you can find in a Goodwill store�clothes, dishes, appliances, books�and range from newly donated items that are automatically deemed great auction subjects, to store items that haven�t been selling well.

The Salvation Army�s funding method is very similar to that of Goodwill, though its foundation is a bit different. An international movement based in the evangelical Christian church, the Salvation Army�s mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to serve people in His name. These services include the administration of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers that �offer hope for those with chronic addiction through a residential program of counseling, work therapy and education,� according to the Salvation Army web site.

Salvation Army�s thrift stores are the primary source of funding for these programs. Some of the clothes donated to the thrift stores may also be used at the centers and in other Salvation Army Family Service efforts like their Disaster Services program, which offers shelter, food and counseling to people who have been affected by natural disasters such as September�s Hurricane Isabel.

AMVETS, a service organization that supports America�s veterans and their communities, also runs its programs in large part from the revenue of its thrift store operations. Specifically, the revenue helps underwrite Americanism projects, fund scholarships and pay the salaries of AMVETS national service officers, who serve as the link between the organization and its members in need.

The Americanism program administers a series of contests for K-12 students to educate them on what it means to be an American, and academic and need-based college scholarships are awarded annually to the sons, daughters and grandchildren of AMVETS members or deceased veterans who would have been eligible for membership.

Thrift store programs also benefit veterans themselves. The service officers who process claims for AMVETS members frequently travel to hospitals to hand out useful items such as phone cards and care kits.

Goodwill, Salvation Army and AMVETS are not the only operators of thrift stores whose money goes to community aid. Planet Aid�s projects may be international, but the help starts right here in the states.

Planet Aid donations are collected from six major U.S. cities are either resold in thrift stores in the Boston area, sold in bulk to commercial dealers or shipped to Planet Aid project sites in Central America, Africa and Asia. The proceeds from the stores also go to support these community development and relief aid projects, which are tailored to the individual needs of the recipient communities.

�Planet Aid�s clothes recycling project is a method to transform this world�s surplus and waste into community development, education, basic health care and much more in villages and townships in Africa, Asia and Latin America,� according to its web site. Planet Aid also strives to educate North Americans about global issues and train volunteer development instructors for its programs abroad.

Clothes collection bins are set up in Boston, North New Jersey, Washington DC, Greensboro NC, Cleveland and Detroit. Ester Neltrup, general manager of Planet Aid�s Clothes Collection in Washington, DC, said the office collects several hundred pounds of clothing a week from about 400 collection bins parked in front of DC area businesses.

The system is a success. According to Neltrup, the boxes advertise themselves, and once they�re in place, people immediately start using them. �Some people just throw old clothes out without thinking, before they�re even worn out,� she said. �This makes it easier for people to discard their clothes in a good way.�

Though many of the Boston collections go to stock Planet Aid�s thrift shops, most of the other sites ship their collections directly abroad to the organization�s community aid programs.

More local endeavors, Philadelphia and Indianapolis each house �Thrift for AIDS� shops.

Barbara Burcham, head of the board of directors for Indy Thrift for AIDS, said the store�s objective is to provide �an additional revenue stream for HIV prevention in Indiana.�

Currently in its fifth year of business, the store gives its net proceeds to the Indiana AIDS Fund and offers a Care Coordinator Emergency Referral Program to boot.

If a person is judged by a designated care coordinator from a local medical or psychological institution to be in an emergency financial state, Indy Thrift for AIDS will provide them with clothes needed for job interviews or to adjust after severe weight loss.

Donations to the store are made statewide and include items such as clothing, shoes, household goods and furniture. �We have a fabulous donor base that brings in brand name clothes,� said Burcham.

If the donated items are not in good enough condition to sell, they are given to churches and other neighborhood programs then passed along to the homeless.

�Nothing goes to waste,� said Burcham. �Why throw it away if it�s good?�

Goodwill�s process is a bit more selective. Each store sets its own standards but Nyirjesy Bragale said the rule of thumb is: �if you wouldn�t give it to a relative or friend, don�t give it to us.�

Since the stores have no cleaning facilities, they must pay to dispose of all the donated goods that are not suitable for sale and, according to Nyirjesy Bragale, mounting trash bills have become a serious issue.

�Every dollar that goes toward the disposal of something is a dollar taken away from projects,� she said.

So when you�ve decided that you just can�t squeeze into those jeans any longer, don�t feed them to the trash, get online and find a local donation center. Just be sure you know its requirements before you send those hopelessly stained white t-shirts.