Are you buying a new winter jacket? Do you have holiday lights that no longer work? Did your kids get duplicate toys this year? Did Santa bring you a new cell phone?

If you have items you’d like to toss but aren’t sure what to do with them, a number of collections are taking place in Cartersville and items can be dropped off right at a number of places around town, including Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

If you have coats you no longer need, donations are being collected through:

• Empty Food Pantry
• Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter
• Goodwill
• Grace Baptist Church's Clothing Ministry (See the website for dropoff details.)
• New Frontier Of Bartow County Inc.
• Salvation Army
• Local schools and organizations (Tell us about your drive in the comments.)

Cell phones piling up because you have the newest and best that technology has to offer? Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation accepts donations of used eyeglasses, cell phones and hearing aids. The phones and hearing aids are sold to refurbishing companies, and the proceeds used to fund sight-saving cataract surgeries, retinopathies and detached retina corrections. See the website for more information. The Cartersville Lions Club meets each week at Slopes BBQ of Cartersville.

Have old holiday lights that no longer work? Maybe you switched colors or swapped old lights for LED ones? Whatever the reason, if you have lights that you're not hanging this year, they can be recycled. Drop off your strands at the Bartow County Recycling Center or any of the county's solid waste collection sites.

Drop off old toys at Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or pass them along to a younger neighbor or relative. Find families who are in need by asking friends, coworkers and the like.

Is your organization collecting donations this holiday season? Let us know in comments.

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