My challenge to myself: donate what we R eating for XMAS to another family

[yeahdisney]

I can use coupons, freebies whatever. My sister is going to do it too. And the girl at Aldi says she will do it this year. I give to our school donations this time of year so I am not counting what we have already giving.
We added what are are having for breakfast too. DS and DD are 11 and 14 so they are helping with the menu. I was able to donate a turkey at the grocery store. Most of the items will be sent to the school, goes in tomorrow. I need to get a couple of more things. Does the stores have boxes of pie crust? We sent in a can of pumpkin but I need a crust to add. For the milk, bread, eggs, butter, we am going to either put in money at the Salvation bucket or at one of the grocery stores they ask at check out for donates for a local food bank.

 

[sissy_ib]

I can use coupons, freebies whatever. My sister is going to do it too. And the girl at Aldi says she will do it this year. I give to our school donations this time of year so I am not counting what we have already giving.
We added what are are having for breakfast too. DS and DD are 11 and 14 so they are helping with the menu. I was able to donate a turkey at the grocery store. Most of the items will be sent to the school, goes in tomorrow. I need to get a couple of more things. Does the stores have boxes of pie crust? We sent in a can of pumpkin but I need a crust to add. For the milk, bread, eggs, butter, we am going to either put in money at the Salvation bucket or at one of the grocery stores they ask at check out for donates for a local food bank.

You know there are different programs where you can actually donate a meal to a needy family. I thought that is what you meant from the title.

 

[irishsharon]

You know there are different programs where you can actually donate a meal to a needy family. I thought that is what you meant from the title.

Could you share the names of some of those programs OP that is a wonderful thing to do and teach your kids

 

[3angelsmom]

The charitable organizations sponsoring those meals differ from community to community. The United Way should be able to point you in the right direction. In my town, you would've needed to sign up to donate a meal over a month ago and need to have the fresh turkey/ham available on distribution day b/c the organization is small & doesn't have freezer space to hold hundreds of these items.

OP, my family has done what you're doing some years when we weren't able to meet the other programs' requirements. We simply purchased everything and donated everything except the ham/turkey (cash instead) to a local food bank. Yes, you can find boxed pie crust in the baking aisle.

This year my girls were old enough to understand. They earned money through chores, then used that money to shop for groceries. They had a lot of fun seeing how far they could stretch their dollars. I tried to personalize it too, and have them think of a family similar to ours. One dd wanted to buy her favorite cereal for the family to have on Christmas morning, the other dd made sure she provided dessert

 

[pixiewings71]

During the months of November & December my family likes to "buy a bag", what happens is you buy a bag and the store fills it with non-perishable grocery items to donate to families in need. They ask for $5-10 per bag so the cost isn't that high and they really do fill the bags as full as they can get them. It's a great program that's been going on for years now.

 

[trinchick]

Great idea, OP! I love shopping specifically for the food pantry as opposed to just giving money. It makes me feel more like I'm directly impacting a family, and I think it helps my DD see that some people are really struggling for the basics. When she's asked if we're rich, poor etc. I've always told her that we are very lucky that we have enough for ourselves, plus some left over to share with others.

We support two food pantries (through our church and DD's school). Both of them set themes for the month. For instance, at DD's school this month's theme is prepared meals (spaghettios, soups, etc.), and the church's theme is breakfast cereals. When we shop we deliberately make a point of purchasing items to meet those needs (even though I could pull a few cans/boxes from the pantry). I think it encourages DD to mindful of helping others - and me too.

Also, there is a church nearby (not ours) whose youth group does a FANTASTIC outreach project each year. On one Sunday they'll drive around dropping off grocery bags with a note asking people to fill it up with donations to the food pantry. The next week, they drive around picking up the donations. I think it's a wonderful way to get the kids involved in an outreach project, plus an easy way for people to engage folks who may not normally go to the effort to donate to a food pantry.

Finally, (and whew this is long) my office works with the United Way to do a Thanksgiving food drive. This year, instead of asking everyone to bring in whatever perishables they may wish, United Way assigned different offices specific elements of the meal. For some reason, my company was assigned cranberry sauce. So we had cases of cranberry sauce stacked in our lobby for a week or so. Kind of fun and nice to get everyone involved.

 

[Bowen9475]

Our church has a food pantry that provides for local families. For the past several years our family has participated in Family to Family for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. They give you the demographics of a particular famliy and ask that you provide for the holiday meal but we always add extra - cereal, pasta and sauce, soups, baking supplies etc. We usually have the same family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You could see if any churches in your area have a similar program.

 

[yeahdisney]

I missed the buy a bag for a needy family at the grocery store I only saw it one week, but that was not for my area. I know the school barrels donates to our area first then on to the next town over. I saw in our small town that you could enter give names for asking for a basket, but no info how to donate. So the kids take our offerings to the school. The year I'm going to ask at church how to donate or if we could be given a family like mentioned here.