Throughout Washington blue recycling bins have been set out to collect clothes, shoes and books for children and people in need all around the globe.

Missions of Hope NC is the owner of the blue drop off points. One of the locations is at the north end of the Walmart parking lot, with others located around Washington.

When the North Carolina nonprofit sets up collections in an area, they also put people to work, according to David Greenfield coordinator of operations. Missions of Hope hires drivers and other people from Washington to help collect items from the blue bins.

“We find drivers in the community through social media,” said Greenfield. “We’ll find a driver and a helper that can work the area. There are usually two people to a route.”

According to Greenfield, in the United States there are too many clothes and they often go to waste.

“The clothing we collect goes to third-world countries,” said Greenfield. “Africa, Mexico, Haiti and Dominican Republic are some of the neediest people that reside on the planet. We also help domestically for larger disasters.”

Outside of helping to put clothes on children’s backs, they want to keep the items out of landfills.

“Eighty-four percent of used clothing in this country is not recycled,” Greenfield said. “It ends up in landfills in this country and that’s primarily why we focus on overseas because there is such a need.”

After the April tornadoes in Beaufort County, Missions of Hope was not requested to send clothes. The area already too many clothes and they did not want to send clothes that would end up in a landfill, Greenfield said.

“I made some calls and my contacts there (in Beaufort County) and they said they had enough and didn’t need anymore,” said Greenfield. “We have found that after a larger disaster so many clothes goes to an area that it ends up getting wasted.”

According to Missions of Hope NC’s website, the donations provide food and medical care, camps for kids and granting wishes to seriously ill children.