I'm A Silly Mami: Have You Donated To Your Local Food Pantry Lately?   

Monday, March 11, 2013

Have You Donated To Your Local Food Pantry Lately?

Today I took a trip to one of our local food pantry’s. I’ve been putting some food aside and after raiding my kitchen and stockpile finally made the trip. I generally try and make a trip to the donation center every other month.

I am always looking for places to donate. Our local paper has a section of Agency’s always looking for donations whether they are food, clothing or furniture. It’s always hard for me to look at that section because there are so many out there in need and I want to help them all but I just don’t have enough stuff to go around. Today’s trip was to the Salvation Army. They also have a thrift store that accepts donations and resells them. When I dropped off the food I was asking one of the ladies in the office questions of what they actually accept at that location. She explained the difference between their location which mainly accepts the food and a small clothing donation and the thrift store where they actually accept just about everything but the food.

During my Q&A I was asked if I wanted to take a look at the downstairs where they store the food and other small donations. Since I’m a visual person I accepted and followed her downstairs. I like to see where my donations are going and how things are being distributed.  They had two large refrigerators and one freezer and it was surprising to see that they were completely EMPTY other than a bag of rolls. The shelves stocking the food were almost bare. I was told that they feed about 300 families a month. It was certainly hard imagining feeding so many families with barely any food in the place. It was very sad to see.

I don’t have a lot of money in my pocket especially being a SAHM and having been on just one income for the last three years but I do my best to try and contribute to our food pantry as much as possible. One never knows when one might find themselves in need of their services.

If you are getting ready for some spring cleaning and are looking to make a donation, here is a list of what the Salvation Army will accept:

  • NON-Expired food
  • Travel size soap and shampoo’s – if you travel and collect those hotel size shampoos and have extra’s, consider donating them
  • Full size soap, shampoo and shaving cream
  • NEW and Gently used toys
    • the new ones they save for Christmas to give out to the kids
    • gently used stuffed animals – the smaller ones are used in stuffing stockers

Check with you local agency to see what they accept. Many of them can only accept certain amount of donations due to their space but will direct you to their larger store. Every little bit helps.

Irene

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