Hoisting the heavy sacks into your trunk, you drive to a nearby Goodwill \u2014 a modest but meaningful act that feels like more than just a physical unburdening.<\/p>\n
… Only to find the donation center has closed after reaching its daily limit. And then the bags just sit there in your car. For weeks. Or months. <\/p>\n
Or more.<\/p>\n
Goodwill donations reached an all-time high<\/p>\n
This experience is seemingly so universal that it has become a meme<\/a>. It shows a photograph of the back of a car filled with trash bags and a caption: \u201cI\u2019m going to donate this stuff to Goodwill, but first I\u2019m going to drive around with it in my trunk for a few months.\u201d<\/p>\n Blame it \u2014 at least in L.A. \u2014 on a surge of donations to Goodwill Southern California, a nonprofit that operates about 100 locations where people can drop off clothes and other items, and shop for secondhand goods.<\/p>\n Goodwill Southern California said that donations increased by 162% from 2021 to 2024, when they hit an all-time high. And this year\u2019s donations \u2014 70% of which are clothes \u2014 are on track to outpace last year\u2019s haul. <\/p>\n What\u2019s to account for the outpouring?<\/p>\n Shavone Turner, a senior director at Goodwill Southern California, said that the COVID-19 pandemic instilled a culture of \u201cdecluttering\u201d that has persisted. \u201cPeople are cognizant of what they have, what they\u2019re carrying, and getting rid of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But I wondered whether changes in fashion \u2014 from the culture to the clothes themselves \u2014 had triggered the avalanche of donations. So I talked to the experts.<\/p>\n The sweet relief of finally donating<\/p>\n On Monday, I went to drop off clothes and a few odds and ends at my local Goodwill. I\u2019d been meaning to for months.<\/p>\n I pulled into the parking lot at the rear of the building. The place was slammed.<\/p>\n A Tesla and a Toyota had double-parked in front of the entrance to the donation center, whose double doors were flung open. Men and women hustled in trash bags filled with clothes, or sometimes just armfuls of them. <\/p>\n As I approached, a masked worker eyed my bag knowingly. I told her it was just clothes, but she spotted a kick-board poking out of the cinched top. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s hard goods, baby,\u201d she tisked. <\/p>\n I sensed a smile underneath her mask as she plopped the bag in a bin with home goods. <\/p>\n I crossed the parking lot, where a decadent tangle of bougainvillea tumbled over a chicken-wire fence topped with barbed wire. <\/p>\n Under a dome of blue, noontime felt neon. And amid this quintessentially L.A. tableau, the moment shimmered with satisfaction.<\/p>\n My trunk was empty.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s top stories Donald Trump, left, with his then-girlfriend and future wife, Melania Knauss, as well as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000.<\/p>\n (Davidoff Studios Photography \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Trump and EpsteinCalifornia gets some abnormal weather<\/p>\n UCLA and Rose Bowl tension2028 Summer OlympicsL.A. renters get a little relief<\/p>\n More big storiesCommentary and opinionsThis morning\u2019s must readsOther great readsFor your downtime (Jasmine Desiree \/ For The Times; Estate of Eve Babitz \/ the Huntington)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inQuestion of the day: What\u2019s one special dish your family makes for Thanksgiving?<\/p>\n Stacy Burroughs <\/b>said, \u201cEvery year I make this incredible Port wine Cranberry Sauce. It\u2019s got a very rich taste with added tangerine juice and a couple 5 spice pods.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Antonoplis<\/b> said, \u201cThis is very untrendy but my wife\u2019s family makes this cherry \/ grape \/ cream cheese Jello mold side dish that everyone looks forward to devouring. It\u2019s crunchy, sweet, goes great with turkey. Awesome!\u201d<\/p>\n Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.<\/p>\n And finally … the photo of the day The northern lights, or aurora, were visible Tuesday evening from Angeles Forest Highway in Angeles National Forest.<\/p>\n (Jaclyn Cosgrove \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Today\u2019s great photo is from Times staff writer Jaclyn Cosgrove<\/b> of the northern lights making a rare appearance<\/a> in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/b><\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter\n
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Hugo Martin, assistant editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
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