Recently, my son sent me a LinkedIn post about Give Back Box, a very unique non-profit that was founded in 2012 by Ms. Monica Wiela. The idea behind Give Back Box was inspired by Ms. Wiela’s encounter with a homeless man, who was holding up a sign that said he needed a pair of shoes. Ms. Wiela returned later that day with a pair of shoes for the man, but he was gone. That evening, Monica started thinking about how she could help people like that man, and her idea was born. Her research uncovered the fact that over 11 million tons of clothing, footwear, towels, bedding, drapery, and other textiles ended up in U.S. landfills every year. In addition, online shopping was becoming the preferred shopping method, and corrugated boxes were the dominant packaging method for e-commerce. Ms. Wiela imagined a world where online retailers, using Give Back Box, would encourage their customers to recycle shipping boxes by filling them with gently used clothes, accessories, and household items, then sending the donated items to local charities. Customers would have a way to easily donate unwanted household items, people in need would be helped, and waste streams going to landfills would be reduced. Give Back Box teamed up with some of the biggest retailers in the U.S. to implement Monica’s dream, including Amazon, Newegg.com, Overstock, Loft, Ann Taylor, Levi’s, and many others. The Give Back Box platform is free for any retailer that joins as a partner, and the Give Back Box shipping label is free for donors. If you would like to view a brief video about how Give Back Box works, click here. I buy everything I can possibly buy from Amazon. Every single day my front porch is cluttered with Amazon shipping boxes. The daily routine used to be: open the box, remove the contents, and take the used box out to the trash. Now my wife and I keep the used, open box in our laundry room, and fill it with household items that we don’t use anymore. Clothing, shoes, electronics, bedding, towels, etc. make their way into the box as we go about our daily routine. Once full, we seal the box, print a postage paid shipping label from the Give Back Box website, and leave the box for our postal carrier. No more boxes in the trash, less clutter around the house, and a great feeling by doing something that is helping people in need. We know that we are making a difference in people’s lives by using Give Back Box, and we know you will enjoy using Give Back Box too. Please give it a try, and tell everybody you know about it! Warm personal regards, Doug Williams Chief Executive Officer.