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Where to donate in Tucson before the truck comes
Half of most cleanouts is still usable, and four organizations in this town will come and get it for nothing. The trick is booking them before the hauler, not after.
Where to donate furniture in Tucson: six organizations, what each takes
Habitat for Humanity Tucson — HabiStore. 935 W. Grant Road, open seven days. Schedule a free pickup online or by phone, or drop at the rear bay marked Donations. Takes furniture, appliances, windows, doors, kitchen and bath fixtures and building materials — the condition is “immediately resellable, not in need of repair.” Proceeds build Habitat homes in Tucson. This is the first call for cabinets, doors and working appliances from a remodel or an estate.
St. Vincent de Paul, Tucson. 829 S. 6th Avenue. Fill in the online donation form and a coordinator calls within three business days to schedule a pickup, which runs by zip code. Takes furniture, large and small appliances, electronics, kitchen items, bicycles, camping gear and vehicles. Will not take used mattresses, water heaters, evaporative coolers, flammables, chemicals, garage doors, tires, weapons, raw building materials, waterbeds, car parts or live animals.
Gospel Rescue Mission. Donation center at 4550 S. Palo Verde Road, open daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; pickup available for larger items by phone or email. Takes bed sets, chairs, couches, dining sets, tables, nightstands, flat-screen TVs, lamps, storage cabinets, working appliances, household goods, bedding in like-new condition. Will not take particle-board furniture, single mattresses, box TVs, or anything broken, stained or not in good usable condition.
Drop-off only, and the one that decides by zip code
Goodwill of Southern Arizona. More than 35 donation centers and stores across the region, most with a drive-through or pull-up bay and an attendant who unloads and hands you a receipt. Takes gently used clothing, shoes, housewares, décor and furniture. Goodwill states plainly that it no longer runs a residential home pickup, so it suits the boxes and the small pieces, not the sectional.
The Salvation Army. Its national pickup scheduler at satruck.org decides by zip code whether a home pickup is on offer, and at the time of writing the scheduler’s message for some areas was that in-home pickups are suspended and drop-offs are accepted instead; the Tucson Adult Rehabilitation Center is at 2717 S. 6th Avenue. Accepts appliances, furniture, clothing and household goods in sellable condition. Refuses gas appliances, built-in appliances, large console TVs, TVs older than five years, auto parts, paint and chemicals. Check the scheduler for your zip before you count on the truck.
South of Tucson: the White Elephant
Country Fair White Elephant, Green Valley. 601 N. La Cañada Drive. Donation drop-off Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon, and not in the rain. Its own crew picks up large donations at no charge from Green Valley through Sahuarita to Tubac and Amado. Takes clothing, furniture, appliances, art, jewelry, collectibles, housewares, linens, books and records, building supplies, TVs, stereos and computers; the list of what it will not take is posted in the store office, so call before you load something unusual. Net proceeds go to local organizations, and for a Green Valley or Sahuarita cleanout it is the first truck to book.
What nobody on this list wants
Used mattresses, almost universally — St. Vincent de Paul and Gospel Rescue Mission say so outright. Particle-board furniture. Anything stained, torn or broken. Appliances that do not run, gas appliances at the Salvation Army, built-ins. CRT tube televisions, which the Household Hazardous Waste drop-off also refuses. Paint, chemicals, tires and car parts, which belong at HHW or the county tire site. Raw building materials and garage doors at St. Vincent de Paul. Outdoor structures — spas, sheds, play sets — anywhere.
All of that goes on the hauler’s truck to Los Reales, which is exactly the point of donating first: what the thrift trucks carry away is not on the paid load, and the receipt they hand you is worth something in April.
How to book donations so they beat the hauler
- Photograph each large item and decide whether it is “resellable” by the standards above. If you would not buy it, they will not take it.
- Book HabiStore and St. Vincent de Paul first — they need days, and St. Vincent de Paul schedules by zip code.
- Call Gospel Rescue Mission for the large pieces the others do not want; it runs daily.
- Take the boxes of clothing, dishes and housewares to a Goodwill bay yourself, any day the store is open.
- South of town, call the White Elephant and let its crew take the big items.
- Only then quote the hauler for what is left, and tell him the donations are already gone so he prices the real pile.
Clearing a house before a sale or a move puts these steps on a calendar, and estate and house cleanouts covers what the hauler does with the rest.
Questions this guide gets asked
Do they give receipts? Yes — Goodwill’s attendants hand one over at the bay, and the pickup organizations provide them on request. Keep them with the landfill receipts.
Will they take a working refrigerator? HabiStore, St. Vincent de Paul, Gospel Rescue Mission and the White Elephant all list appliances; “working” is the condition. A dead one goes to the landfill with a $20 refrigerant fee.
Can the hauler drop items at a donation center for me? Many will, and a good one names the center. It still counts as truck space, so book the free pickups first where you can.
How far ahead should I book a pickup? A week or more for HabiStore and St. Vincent de Paul in a busy month. Same week is sometimes possible; do not plan a closing around it.