Sharing Is Caring
So many of you have expressed a deep concern about what people do with all the extra products couponers tend bring home with them. It’s true, I do tend to fill my home with a lot of great finds due to items having a super low price or being completely free because of couponing. You tend to think that there is NO WAY that one family can possibly use 20 deodorants, 30 boxes of pasta, or 15 toothpastes. You worry that “stock piling” might be unhealthy and lead to hoarding thousands of products under our children’s beds and filling rooms from top to bottom leaving nowhere for a family to dwell. You think because of our selfish ways that items are going to spoil, expire, or simply be thrown away because they can no longer be used. While this may be true for a very very small number of extreme families, most couponers use their bargain seeking tools to help support their community and lend where aide is needed most. This is what I like to think of as my couponing mantra… Sharing is Caring!
You will often find us coupon Klippin’ Krazies sharing our “extras” with family, friends, churches, shelters, and charities. To me, it is always about helping others in need and passing on my good fortune. I always encourage my frugal friends to follow in my path and pay it forward to strengthen and care for our own community. This is where you come in to help aide that sharing even more! If you have been following me for a while now and are using those couponing skills to the fullest, you probably have more than your share of goodies to help lend a hand to others in need. I implore you and ask that you consider sharing your abundance with some or all of the charities I’m about to list below. They are in desperate and constant need of some assistance and you are just the help they are seeking! Join me won’t you?
Grant County Animal Outreach: As you can imagine it is very hard to support so many animals on such small budgets. They are always in need of food, bleach, cat litter, pet carriers, towels, cleaners, toys, hoses, hands on volunteers, and cash donations for vaccines and veterinarian care. Donations can be brought or sent to 6725 Randolph Road NE or P.O. Box 489 in Moses Lake. To learn more, please call (509) 762-9616 or visit their website at www.petfinder.com/shelters/WA370.html.
Serve Moses Lake: These wonderfully caring people aim to serve families on an individual basis to meet their specific needs. They will assist those in need with anything from food, to clothes, to furniture, to even prayer. They will accept whatever it is that you have to give and whatever service you have to provide. You can locate Serve Moses Lake at 422 W. Third Ave. in Moses Lake. For more information about their services, please reach them at (509) 764-8276 or by visiting their website www.servemoseslake.org.
New Hope Domestic Violence Center: New Hope is a community based advocacy center, which assists both female and male victims of domestic and sexual violence in Grant and Adams Counties. They offer crisis intervention, medical and legal advocacy, support groups, and more. In doing so, they are need of items to house and care for such victims. They are always seeking food, clothes, diapers, formula, hygiene products, and even calling cards for their clients to keep in touch with their loved ones. If you can help, please take your donations to 840 East Plum St. or make arrangements for volunteering by calling (509) 764-8402.
Moses Lake Food Bank: They seek to alleviate hunger in our community by providing assistance that is simple in style and exemplifies the spirit of providing for one’s neighbor. They also serve as a distribution center for Grant, Adams & Lincoln county food banks. Please take your food donations to 1075 West Marina Drive and visit their website for more details on how you can help volunteer, offer monetary support, or to see how food donation works at www.mlfood.org. They can also be reached by telephone at (509) 765-8101.
I sincerely hope you take this column to heart and decide to help encourage prosperity by giving to those in need. It will make my heart happy to know that my coupon know how and teachings is really helping the community at large. Your heart will surely sing too when you see all the good you are doing to give back. Not to mention, what a special gift you are teaching your children about sharing with others and lending a hand to those less fortunate. I know the pride I feel when I see my own son eager to help donate or lift a hand in a kind gesture to anyone in need. It is truly a priceless gift!
If you have a favorite charity or know of a way that coupons could aid in our area, please contact me at the locations below. I am always looking for new ways and charities to gift my good fortune to. I would also love to hear what you are currently doing to serve your community through the wonderful world of couponing!