There’s a new way to donate to the charity of your choice – department store gift cards.
Abby Hausmann with the Salvation Army in Des Moines says the charity’s last fundraising appeal brought donations from businesses and for the first time in addition to money they got some gift cards — the plastic cards charged with whatever dollar amount the buyer’s paid for at the store.
They’ve become popular as gift items, and Hausmann says a private donor could also put some cash onto a Target, Younkers, WalMart or other store card and donate that to a local agency that helps the needy. “We would love to get them,” Hausmann says. “Many people need clothes and the Salvation Army could provide those gift cards for them, to go back-to-school shopping, that kind of thing.”
This week, a hot spell had many suffering without a remedy for the heat and Hausman says the gift cards came in handy. The Salvation Army had asked for donations of fans, but didn’t get any. They took some of the gift cards and went out to buy fans — and found them on sale, getting more for their “money.”
The cards can be donated anonymously and easily handed off from one owner to another and she says if you have a gift card that’s been partly used but still has some money on it, that would be a donation welcomed by local charities. Contact your local charity or contact Hausmann at (515) 282-3599 and she’ll give the contact information for your local Salvation Army.