Last week, I shared with you the 10 things your local food pantry needs. As part of Champions for Kids‘s SIMPLE service project for March , All You Couponing for Good, I gathered up my coupons and headed out to WalMart to stock up on those items that I know my local food pantry needs.
{You can view my complete shopping trip on Google+}.
We grabbed cereal bars, granola bars, rice, baby food {very important!}, cereal, and, every kid’s favorite, mac-and-cheese. I was really impressed with how much I was able to buy with so little {thank to coupons!}.
I packed up all the donations and headed to the food pantry.
I went by myself this time. I really wanted E to come with me as I feel it is important to teach him at a young age the importance of giving but it just didn’t work out that day. However, going alone, gave me a chance to talk more with the volunteers. Even though I was only bringing one small bag, they were grateful that I thought of them. They told me that they wished more people like me would just drop by with one bag. If everyone dropped by with one bag, the pantry would always would be full.
It was then that I realized that I should be doing more. My husband and I are very lucky to be able to put food on the table every night. Not everyone can do that. We are also fortunate that we can spend a little {I’m talking a little} on things that we don’t necessarily need but want. If we have room to do that, we have room to give back.
I have started purchasing items for a future donation. If I see a good sale or have coupons for free items, I pick them up and pack them in a bag. Once that bag is full, I’ll take it down to the pantry {which is only a few blocks from our house!}. I am hoping to be able to fill one bag a month!
What SIMPLE service project could you do to help your community?
Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own. Follow Champions for Kids on Twitter and Facebook. #AllYouCFK #CBias
I’m sure that one bag made a difference for the food pantry! Great job!
We have a local grocery store that offers weekly BOGO deals. There are shoppers who don’t want the free item (can you believe it?!?!) so the grocery store donates it to our local food pantry. It’s amazing to see how much they collect and donate every week!
That is a great idea! I may have to talk to my local grocery store about starting something like that! And who in their right mind turns down free?!