Our Programs
"Look carefully around and recognize the luminosity of souls. Sit beside those who draw you to that." - Rumi

Recycle your unused items to help Nicaragua’s poor

Untitled2 If you’re like most Americans, your garage, cupboards and closets overflow with unused clothes, toys, tools, office equipment and home items. Now you can contribute items that are in good condition and get a generous tax deduction—while you help some of the planet’s poorest people. Donate your gently used items to Connecticut Quest for Peace today.

Clean out your closet: Your throwaways are worth millions to needy people

Since 1987, CT Quest has collected donations from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut neighbors like you, packed dozens of cargo containers and trucked hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of humanitarian aid to Nicaragua. With each truckload of donated goods valued at over $165,000, your donations have provided needy Nicaraguans with more than $8 million worth of goods over the last 20 years.

Your donation links you directly to your Nicaraguan neighbors

Unlike many other charities, CT Quest’s humanitarian cargo aid program lets you deliver a gift directly from your own hands to needy Nicaragua families. You can drop off donations at two convenient Connecticut locations.

Looking for a hands-on volunteer experience? Please join us as we pack Nicaragua-bound trucks filled with your donations: Get details on our twice-annual packing days

“Exactly how do my old things help needy Nicaraguan families?”

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Over 78% of all Nicaraguans live on less than $2 a day and 30% of the population earns less than $1 a day.

Items useless to you may be priceless to needy people in Nicaragua’s inner city barrios or remote countryside. To learn more about our most critical needs, please take a look at our list of most-wanted donations.

Here’s how our humanitarian cargo aid program works:

You clean house and bring your items to the Benedictine Grange or the CT Quest warehouse—or arrange for us to pick up bulky items.
Donations are packed into cargo containers by you and other local volunteers. Please find out how you can help us pack.
Your donations travel overland and by sea to Managua, Nicaragua.
Your donated goods are unpacked in Managua by our community-based partners at Juan XXIII Institute-University of Central America.
Your items are organized and distributed to CT Quest programs.
Items that cannot be used are sold at reasonable prices in yard sales. Proceeds are reinvested into CT Quest-funded programs that pay teachers’ salaries, build classrooms and school latrines and cover other educational expenses.

Drop off donations at one of our two Connecticut locations or contact us to arrange pick-up.

Like to strengthen your community? Enlist your co-workers, students or members of your community or house of worship in a group project.

Don’t have items to donate—but still want to help? Discover ways you can help Nicaraguan families.

Stay updated on all CT Quest programs in Nicaragua. Join our mailing list.