Give the needy food and other items they would actually like.

Every year for the past several years I have given to the United Way. Currently, I have $1.50 taken out of my paycheck each week. Although it seems a small sum, that is $78 per year. Again, that isn’t a large sum to many except to those without. I’m not sure how much has been collected this year, but dollar for dollar, my employer is matching it.

Recently, at the United Way fund raiser, the guy from the local food pantry which shares in the donations, told me that for every dollar they receive, they can buy 10 pounds of food for the needy in our community. The money also goes to Meals on Wheels which delivers healthy meals to the elderly and other shut-ins who are unable to cook for themselves. Although these are not the only recepients of the proceeds collected by United Way, I feel really good about how this money is spent.

While these may be sad times for some, Going Out Of Business signs provide an opportunity to really stretch your donations dollars, and perhaps your perception of what you can donate. There may be dozens of widgets that you know will be useful to someone somehow, so why not grab them when they are marked down. (there is a reason why we Americans have attics, basements, and garages – to store the stuff that we know we can donate someday)

Working 6 hours a week at the local Williams-Sonoma has provided a treasure trove of donations for the foodbank my church sponsors. A few months ago there were some drastically reduced kitchen towels because they were dirty – someone spilled something on kitchen towels on display. I got them for a steal, plus my employee discount, but didn’t know what I wanted to do with them.

About a month or so later I learned that most of the kitchen towels at the food pantry had disappeared. Voila! I saw a need and had the resources to fill it. Lots of Williams-Sonoma logos in teh Soup Kitchen now. :)

So the next time you see a sale sign, or even going out of business sign, drop in, you may be blessed as I was.

This past week there were coupons for a Free Can of Purina One Dog Food in my newspaper. It’s a no brainer that this will make it into the collection bins at church for the local shelter.

giving to the foodbank works, but I also give to the homeless. I saw an elderly homeless woman downtown last winter, sleeping in doorways everynight. It was getting cold, so I gave her a really warm sleeping bag. My little daughter was 11 at he time and with me, also had pity and gave the woman some of her own money. I want to teach my children compassion.

It was called America’s Killer Diet It was very disturbing and an eye opener. I’m not going into the details of the program but if anyone hears anything about it being repeated, I encourage you to watch it.

I’m sure my company will have a food drive soon and so will my grandson’s school. What I am asking from everyone who is thinking of donating nonparishable food items to their local food drives is this:
Do not give ramon noodles. Every needy person in America already has them.
Do give canned fruits and veggies, canned juices, peanut butter, cereals, canned or powdered milk, canned meats, and any other nutritious foods that you would purchase and eat yourself.

I just finished reading a few entries on some similar goals and it started me thinking. It is not too early to begin planning for those who are less fortunate than us for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Even if you do not have school age kids at home, check out the website of your local school and find out if they are having a food drive soon.

Why is your support of a school food drive important? Community support of school activities is one way to ensure that those activities will continue, AND, its a great way to really get people thinking at an early age about the importance of helping others.

This is someting I’m not going to stop doing, but I have definitley done it. It’s ongoing.

I was talking to a co-worker about how it was chilly in the mornings last week and he then asked if I needed a coat. I was confused, but I explained that I had I coat I just decided it wasn’t cold enough for me to need it. Then he ran out to his car and brought in some coats and told me I could have one of them. I figured it couldn’t hurt so I took one that I liked.

Anyhow I’m going to get rid of a coat I already have to replace it with. I’m sure with the cold weather coming soon someone will like having it.

A Lot of reasons. Right now, I have a box of food (if you could call it that) sitting on my kitchen floor that my stepdaughter has brought over. She has been off and on public assitance in some form the last 2 years. Currently, she is living in a rent-free house with a leaky roof. She hasn’t had a job in over 4 months. The last job she worked at was for a wrecking and salvage company doing mostly physical labor. Until she took this job, she had only done some sort of office work. She moved to Missouri to be closer to her family (us) and to pursue child-support for her 8 year old son in the state he was born. Finding a job in office work turned out to quite a challenge. She has applied to several area businesses where they told her that she has the right requirements they are looking for, but they have decided to promote within. Why then, did they advertise? She finally got child-support but currently it is arrears. (means she isn’t receiving it like she is suppose to). She spends each month worrying about whether food stamps (the old term) is going to cut off or reinstated. Whenever we could, we have helped her finaicially. Over the last 2 years we have paid some utility bills, filled her gas tank a few times, had her and our grandson over for several meals during the week when she had no money for food, and loaned (given) her money in other emergencies.

Okay, back to the box. She went to the local food pantry where they give out food to the needy. They talked her into taking this stuff off their hands: 4-5 bottles of marinades, 3 bottles of salad dressing, 5 packets of chipotle bullioun mix???, a bag of egg noodles). Now tell me, what would a single parent with an eight year do with these food items?

I know one thing. Next time I donate to the local food pantry, it will be edible, usable food items and people can and will actually eat.