Surprising ways to help Families in need, year 'round

[Kathryn_Ann]

Thank you for all the people responding so very kindly to an earlier thread about balancing our blessings by helping other families. :angel1:

Just putting a list together here that I’ve found works in our neighborhood/parish/home.

**Please add to the list any of your own ideas. **

Make every event a “canned” event. Private parties, birthdays, theatre/Opera/Music performances, etc. can advertise a canned food or non perishable collection point for guests/attendees. Imagine if every such event was a “Canned Event.” Just need one responsible person or two to deliver it to the local food pantry.

**Put a medium sized box in your house for collecting **clean, gently used clothing. Connect with local women’s/homeless shelters/vets and share what you have with them.

**Use your library instead of purchasing a book. **The money you save can be used to purchase EZ read books for children caught up in the court system or living in local shelters. Buy a cookbook for a local shelter and bring a basket of ingredients to go with it!

Wish Lists Work. Your town may have several shelters with websites which list their most needed items. Some ask groups to “adopt” a room for a new family moving in, by supplying them with sheets, household items, personal care items, etc. Church groups can find dozens of ways to collect for these.

Needs happen between Holidays. Christmas Toy drives are nice, but all the above needs (and ways to help) can help year 'round and should. Slow months, summertime when many people are away vacationing are times when many shelters and food pantries are really low on donations. Don’t stop helping on the holidays, just think beyond them.

Hospitals often welcome brand new baby shower type gifts for new mothers in need. The key is “new” items. Contact the Volunteer Support Director or similar person at the hospital near your parish and they can advise you. Did you know that some hospitals see poor patients come to them in tattered, worn clothing? Ask your local hospital if they can use clean, gently used clothing and how to get these to them.

**Please private message me if you have questions on the above.
And please add to these suggestions. **

Yours in Christ,
Kathryn Ann:heaven:

 

[St_Francis]

Hospitals often welcome brand new baby shower type gifts for new mothers in need. The key is “new” items. Contact the Volunteer Support Director or similar person at the hospital near your parish and they can advise you. Did you know that some hospitals see poor patients come to them in tattered, worn clothing? Ask your local hospital if they can use clean, gently used clothing and how to get these to them…

I am surprised about the patients in really worn-out clothing, because a lot of thrift shops bale up the donated clothes they think won’t sell here and send them off to 3rd world countries.

Maybe organizations can get hold of some of those clothes and give them away to people here. Most of the really poorly dressed people I see here in the US are homeless, so that might be a good place to start.

If I had time and lived near a homeless shelter, I would look into this, but I am in the middle of nowhere. I know domestic violence thrift shops give some of the donations to people in their shelters.

 

[mrs_katekista]

Give food to the home-bound. You can buy disposable containers or pick up some trays from your local organization who helps the home-bound. Your parish will most likely have the information or a stock of these trays. I am not sure what exactly they are called but it is something like this organization - aidforfriends.org.

Every time you make a meal for your family, set aside some food before or after you eat. Cover and put the food in the freezer. Then deliver your trays of frozen food to the local organization or your parish every time you go to Sunday Mass.

After the holidays, you can make lots of soup from your left over turkey/ham and send it to them, too.

Hope this helps! Peace and all good.

 

[mrs_katekista]

Maybe organizations can get hold of some of those clothes and give them away to people here. Most of the really poorly dressed people I see here in the US are homeless, so that might be a good place to start.

I just want to chime in on this one. I know of a soup kitchen in my area that also runs a thrift shop. They give out vouchers to their clients so they can get clothes from the thrift store without spending any money.

Hope this helps! Peace and all good.

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

I am surprised about the patients in really worn-out clothing, because a lot of thrift shops bale up the donated clothes they think won’t sell here and send them off to 3rd world countries.

Maybe organizations can get hold of some of those clothes and give them away to people here. Most of the really poorly dressed people I see here in the US are homeless, so that might be a good place to start.

If I had time and lived near a homeless shelter, I would look into this, but I am in the middle of nowhere. I know domestic violence thrift shops give some of the donations to people in their shelters.

I was also surprised about hospital patients often needing decent clothing. That is heartbreaking to me, to think of someone already in distress and in the hospital and being discharged with tattered clothing. Sometimes I will go to a nice thrift shop, find some good clothing and take those home and wash them before giving these to the Volunteer Dept. for hospital patients they have noticed are in need. I always like to wash things before donating them.

For new mothers and babies though, (who the hospital staff has found to be in need, ) always new items should be the way to go when presenting these up as gifts! No re-gifted items for the new babies and mothers.

It’s great if there are thrift shops donating to shelters. Thank you for your ideas!

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

I just want to chime in on this one. I know of a soup kitchen in my area that also runs a thrift shop. They give out vouchers to their clients so they can get clothes from the thrift store without spending any money.

Hope this helps! Peace and all good.

Wow, what a great idea! I wonder if other soup kitchens are doing that. This is a great way to connect the two needs. Thank you for posting this!

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

Give food to the home-bound. You can buy disposable containers or pick up some trays from your local organization who helps the home-bound. Your parish will most likely have the information or a stock of these trays. I am not sure what exactly they are called but it is something like this organization - aidforfriends.org.

Every time you make a meal for your family, set aside some food before or after you eat. Cover and put the food in the freezer. Then deliver your trays of frozen food to the local organization or your parish every time you go to Sunday Mass.

After the holidays, you can make lots of soup from your left over turkey/ham and send it to them, too.

Hope this helps! Peace and all good.

Yes indeed, this is helpful! Don’t we wish each family did this whenever they light up the oven? Our parish has a casserole program. You pick up a pan with a choice of recipes and on a certain date which you sign up for, you take it to the parish kitchen and put it in the freezer/refrigerator and the coordinator delivers it to another parish that runs a soup kitchen. I do really appreciate your idea here and thank you for the link as well.

 

[Blenderx]

If you see families in need in your own life, you can make a difference there too. I grew up very, very poor. At one point, I was in shoes 3 sizes too small, tattered jeans, and I wore a sweater everyday because I didn’t have anything else that fit. I suppose I just looked like a hooligan to most. It was hard being looked down upon. I didn’t even have a winter coat one year. A teacher I had once kept me after school to give me a bag of clothing her niece had outgrown. When she retired unexpectedly due to health, she discreetly sent them through another teacher. My parents could not afford a car. A Lutheran church in the next town would have someone drive bags of donated groceries weekly to families in need, including ours. There was always a pack of cookies in the bag. One of the bags also contained a Bible, which I read straight through. For my Confirmation, a thoughtful woman took me to get something nice to wear for the ceremony. There was a program that paid for me to go to camp for 2 weeks one year. I would have never been able to without it and it was a great experience. The same program paid for me to take swim lessons one summer at the YMCA, and once to the Bronx zoo. I loved that too. During a rough year in my family, a family friend, who already had 4 young children sleeping in one bedroom, took me in. Where would I have been without them? I was also always welcome to dinner in their house growing up.

There are many poor and needy hidden among us and so many little, personal things we can do. The recipients of this personal charity never forget. Years later, I still remember all these people in my prayers.

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

If you see families in need in your own life, you can make a difference there too. I grew up very, very poor. At one point, I was in shoes 3 sizes too small, tattered jeans, and I wore a sweater everyday because I didn’t have anything else that fit. I suppose I just looked like a hooligan to most. It was hard being looked down upon. I didn’t even have a winter coat one year. A teacher I had once kept me after school to give me a bag of clothing her niece had outgrown. When she retired unexpectedly due to health, she discreetly sent them through another teacher. My parents could not afford a car. A Lutheran church in the next town would have someone drive bags of donated groceries weekly to families in need, including ours. There was always a pack of cookies in the bag. One of the bags also contained a Bible, which I read straight through. For my Confirmation, a thoughtful woman took me to get something nice to wear for the ceremony. There was a program that paid for me to go to camp for 2 weeks one year. I would have never been able to without it and it was a great experience. The same program paid for me to take swim lessons one summer at the YMCA, and once to the Bronx zoo. I loved that too. During a rough year in my family, a family friend, who already had 4 young children sleeping in one bedroom, took me in. Where would I have been without them? I was also always welcome to dinner in their house growing up.

There are many poor and needy hidden among us and so many little, personal things we can do. The recipients of this personal charity never forget. Years later, I still remember all these people in my prayers.

Oh, Dear Blenderx,:angel1: blessings to you in Christ Jesus for reminding us of the “hidden” needs, the families and children who we may not realize are hurting and in distress. What a wonderful, true story you have told, a great gift to all who are trying to help. What a wonderful person you are to remember these things and cherish them!

And now you are a wife and mother, no doubt grateful every single day for all your blessings and blessing many others!:getholy: I hope we can all find ways to look, to search out signs of people in our parish family and others who would benefit from loving compassion and gifts from the heart.

That camp experience:christmastree1::tanning: must have really been so special to you, and all the people who were kind along the way surely are proud of your kind spirit.

Thank you for sharing your experiences!:grouphug::heaven:
Kathryn Ann

 

[KnitNut]

These are great suggestions!

We subscribe to the local Freecycle email lists. Sometimes a member will post a legitimate need (“lost my job, hoping someone has a toy I could give my child for Christmas”, “can’t afford oil, looking for any warm blankets”) which we address, usually adding a few “extra goodies” to the bag.

In my experience, church-based food/financial assistance coordinators will pass along items to specific families as an anonymous donation - we’ve passed along everything from crock pots to clothing to 25lb sacks of rice to grocery store gift cards, with the help of these coordinators. If you don’t know of a specific family/need, ask the coordinator. They won’t reveal the names of the needy families, but they will help you identify needs you could fulfill.

My mom overheard a friend of hers talking with another woman at the grocery store. The woman wanted to buy a little piece of meat but couldn’t afford it. This woman, a cancer patient, lived alone and had no local family to help her. So my mom got the woman’s address from her friend and sent an anonymous cheerful card with a little cash, whatever my mom could afford, every month for as long as she lived. The woman never found out who her anonymous friend was Keep your eyes & ears open & you’ll see a lot of opportunities to give…

If you’re crafty, you can make things to donate & mail to a shelter/mission. Knotted prayer ropes/rosaries, hats, scarves/neck warmers. They also need travel sized toiletries and lots of other items - try a Google search and contact one that looks interesting. The coordinators will be very upfront about what they need, as well as what items they can’t take. If your town doesn’t have a shelter/mission, you can mail items as your time/$ allow - my mother lived in a rural area, but she donated hats all over the country!

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

These are great suggestions!

We subscribe to the local Freecycle email lists. Sometimes a member will post a legitimate need (“lost my job, hoping someone has a toy I could give my child for Christmas”, “can’t afford oil, looking for any warm blankets”) which we address, usually adding a few “extra goodies” to the bag.

In my experience, church-based food/financial assistance coordinators will pass along items to specific families as an anonymous donation - we’ve passed along everything from crock pots to clothing to 25lb sacks of rice to grocery store gift cards, with the help of these coordinators. If you don’t know of a specific family/need, ask the coordinator. They won’t reveal the names of the needy families, but they will help you identify needs you could fulfill.

My mom overheard a friend of hers talking with another woman at the grocery store. The woman wanted to buy a little piece of meat but couldn’t afford it. This woman, a cancer patient, lived alone and had no local family to help her. So my mom got the woman’s address from her friend and sent an anonymous cheerful card with a little cash, whatever my mom could afford, every month for as long as she lived. The woman never found out who her anonymous friend was Keep your eyes & ears open & you’ll see a lot of opportunities to give…

If you’re crafty, you can make things to donate & mail to a shelter/mission. Knotted prayer ropes/rosaries, hats, scarves/neck warmers. They also need travel sized toiletries and lots of other items - try a Google search and contact one that looks interesting. The coordinators will be very upfront about what they need, as well as what items they can’t take. If your town doesn’t have a shelter/mission, you can mail items as your time/$ allow - my mother lived in a rural area, but she donated hats all over the country!

HI there KnitNut, your post is chock ful of super ideas. How lovely of your mother to give anonymously like that! What a blessing! I hope that lots of people take your suggestions and all of other’s to heart. This is a great time to learn how to help!
Kathryn Ann