What did you donate this week?

[GJohnson39]

I just put together a donation to our local womens shelter with the following:
8 shampoos & conditioners, 8 toopastes with 8 brushes, 8 deodorants, 4 small jugs laundry detergent & some spot treament wipes, 8 hairbrushes, 8 can progresso soup, 1 12 double roll pack of TP, 2 body lotions, 4 canisters of Clorox wipes, and 2 boxes trash bags (13 and 39 gal). All were items from their wish list.

I haven't been stockpiling very long, but I think this is a nice collection to be able to give so soon. Will be dropping everything off Monday a.m.

[lbveggie]

Hi elizabethm, when I went to drop off my donation, I was so sad to see so many men of various ages waiting for food and soap! What finally did me in was a young woman with a toddler who was afraid to go inside because there were only men waiting in line. She told me she had been evicted when her job reduced her hours to 24 per week! That was too much for me to take. I implore everyone to look through your stockpiles and consider donating something to a local food bank, charity, homeless shelter or anywhere others are helping the growing nunmer of working poor, unemployed or homeless! The problem is ever growing and only by the Grace of God that all of us are not at the end of the line, waiting for a bar of soap!

Blessings to all who streatch a hand to those in need.

Ok, I will get off my soap box now!!!!

[lbveggie]

Oooooppppssss just noticed my typos! Sorry.

[angeleyeza]

every other week I have a babysitter shes only 15 ..here to watch the 2 girls so every night before she leaves I hand her 2 bags of groceries from my stockpile. Since she has 2 other sisters I try to give enough so that they can all share a nice bit of stuff. I have already given them 10 boxes of cereal, 10 boxes fruit snacks, 5 bags chex mix, 6 boxes of poptarts, 5 bottles dish soap, 3 bags of hershey candy, and more and my stockpile has no dent in it as it looks .. but Im happy with knowing at least they have something fun to eat.

[FrankRyan]

12 boxes of Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Almond bars
15 packages of Starkist tuna pouches
3 Cans of Chunky Soup
3 Jumbo Packs of Diapers
7 boxes of soy joy bars
2 wanchai ferry boxes
3 tubes tpaste
4 tbrushes
1 pack soap
3 dish soap
4 glade scented oil candle refills
8 bottles body wash
and lots others I can't remember. We give to an amvet and a welfare family on a regular basis.

[compmomnc]

Last Saturday we met a family that posted thru Google Groups for our location that they needed a hand. Dad laid off and Mom's housecleaning business is stagnant and not producing income of any consequence. They have 4 kids and a mound of past due bills.

We had started this whole adventure by doing some pantry cleaning and were amazed at what we collected thru our thrifty shopping adventures. We usually give our clothing and other donations to Goodwill, but we weren't sure as to what to do with the food. We have two local food banks: Loaves and Fishes and Metrolina Food. We have in the past donated to them and would not have minded to do so this time. Fate intervened in our decision.

This family had a much greater problem than finding food for their family. Their electric was in the arrears and in danger of disconnection on 3/20/09 for a total of 389.62 due. How could this family get any food, if they are going to lose the means in which to prepare it safely? We worked and got the electric company to accept 191.32 from my family to hold off the disconnection for 30 days. The family was so grateful and appreciative.

Well that was nothing compared to the parents who came to our house to pick up some food for their family.

Well our stockpile stuff was missing some things so we found some baking stuff cheap and then went to purchase milk, eggs, bread, cheese. butter, hot dogs etc. Then in addition to 8 cans of tuna, 6 cans of canned chicken, hormel compleats, 2 12 packs pop tarts, 2 variety packs of instant oatmeal, instant potatoes and noodles, mac and cheese, beef stew, chef boyr dee, canned soups. There was much more, but the list escapes me as I write this morning.

We then into our freezer and pulled out a shank ham, turkey breast, 2 roasting chickens and 4 pounds of ground beef.

We give and will continue to give to the food banks and Goodwill too, but with helping this other family we know that it really did go to good use. They received several weeks of food from us and a 30 day reprieve on the electric bill. Do not know what will have to happen on April 20th, but at least they have a little room to breathe now and work on getting income in to take care of bills, since their families foods needs are temporarily taken care of. My hope is that they do not need us in 30 days. We will see.

My advanced goal for the next 10 days is to:

1: take this mom I met with me and my husband to HT triple coupons next week and educate her about couponing and also buy her some more cheap food.

2: continue to help another family that we have helped for the last 3 years. The dad has brain cancer and the mom is unable to work. They do have an income and also get food stamps. They just need a help with the things that WIC and budgeting do not cover. We help with buying the dad , Gatorade each month. His stomach is so upset some times, that he does not get nutrition like he should. His doctor suggested he supplement with Gatorade and has since we started to buy it for him 3 years ago.
We buy an extra package or two of meat when it is cheap and give it to them.

This mom will also join us for our HT triples excursion, next weekend. She can not afford extra coupons, so we let her use our extra coupons and have fun shopping where she has learned to stretch her WIC a lot further.

3: I donated a sign up link I got to Pinecone Surveys to both ladies so they can make a little money.

The best thing that has come from giving is that my 14 year old daughter had caught the spirit and wants to contribute to help us help other people and families. That is one lesson that you can't learn in school these days.

Have a great weekend guys

compmomnc
Tina

[lmagee]

I live in the NW section of Houston. I'm looking for a clinic/shelter/food bank/etc. that could use diabetic stuff including monitors and diabetic food. Does anyone know of a specific place that can use these items, in the West or Northwest Houston area?

[DamianMom]

I am sure there are places that need stuff, I just don't know of many right now. And not sure if I have a lot they can use just yet. But I'd gladly be willing to help if I could. I am scraping by money wise as it is, being a single mom, but with coupons I'm able to get a lot more. Just wish it paid for other bills too. lol But I love couponing, as it enables me to help out other families. Yesterday we donated by having a sack full of food out for the Stamp out Hunger (I think that's what it's called). Where you leave the food out for the mailman. And also I was able to get a ride from a friend to take a bunch of Purina Kitten Chow we got with the recent free coupons to the animal shelter. I loved the look on the lady's face. lol They also took the rest of the Free coupons that I didn't have time to get more boxes of the kitten food. I didn't know they would take the coupons for it. Since I don't drive it would have been a lot easier for me to just have mailed the coupons for free kitten chow. lol But still, I'm glad my son was able to go there in person and feel that feeling of helping others in need. Whether it be people or animals. And now that I'm discovering more deals on pet stuff, hopefully we can do that more often as well. lol
I do have a question though. For those who donate the homeless shelters and such, how do you find what they need, or perhaps find whose in a lot of need? Or how do you find thoes people who really need the help? Many times there could have been times I could have helped, if only knew of the person who needed it. If that makes any sense. lol This is a great thread. Not for bragging rights, but really inpsiring to try and do more!

[Shelly527IN]

Yesterday I gave my friend 7 Bayer blood glucose monitors to take to a Diabetes clinic. She said that they were very thankful for them. I spent $27 for 20 coupons to get 20 monitor for free and have made about $60 so far. Plus, I get the good feeling of helping someone less fortunate.

A few weeks ago I donated 30 pounds of kitten chow to the local animal shelter that I got for free from coupons that I spent $8.75 on. I spent another $2.25 for 10 more Qs. I have more 10 pounds in the car, plus 3 or 4 toys for the dogs. These will be donated when I take my pre-k summer class there on a field trip.

A week or two before that, I gave my brother (who has 3 girls--8,9 and 10) two wal-mart bags full of HBA stuff from my stockpile. I still have a bunch of stuff left.

[hbaqueen]

This week I gave monitors to the church for mission trips, monitors/strips to my neighbor who doesnt have insurance and some to my sister who has insurance but strips not covered. I generally give any unwanted food to my paperman but Im gonna start shopping for the food bank again soon. I havent been able to donate much to them lately. I know they appreciate it and they really helped my friend out when she was in need a few years ago so Im anxious to start collecting for them again too. Love the stories of sharing the wealth!