Donation Help

[Latonya]

I started collection items to donate to various shelters but I need some type of list. My goal is by Dec. 8th (my birthday) to have containers full of items.
I have like soaps, bodywashes, toothpastes, toothbrushes, shampoos, maxi pads,can goods,etc. I don't know what shelters will be recieving the items . I just want to help.

So can someone pm me a detail list it would really help.

[Leanna]

What a good heart you have! I'm not sure what kind of list you mean? Do you mean what kind of items shelters, etc. need? Probably anything you have can be used.

[Baird]

It's a wonderful thing you are doing. I used to write fund-raising appeals for a day shelter in Boston, and all of the things you have mentioned would be useful, I think.

Any others would depend on what services they offer. For instance, St. Francis House helped people get ready for job interviews, so they could use nice clothing suitable for interviews too. They helped homeless people get and furnish apartments, so furniture, pots and pans, etc. was helpful for that. Also, for Christmas one year, they wanted tapes of holiday music, and I sent them some of those too.

I am trying to donate every week to our local food pantry. Here what Second Harvest says are among the things they most need: Canned protein sources (stews, chili, tuna, meats, beans). Pasta sauces, canned tomatoes. Peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, pastas, rice. Toilet paper, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste/brushes. Cereals, including boxed and hot items like oatmeal. Diapers in sizes larger than newborn.

I would love to hear from other people who are trying to help food pantries and shelters and share ideas with them. Anyone interested.

I first got the idea to help when President Obama asked that everyone do a day of service on Martin Luther King's Birthday. I am having bad arthritis problems, so I couldn't volunteer. But I could go to the supermarket and buy a nice big order for them. And I love the volunteers I've met at the food pantry. What terrific people!

[go falcons]

A couple of things my local shelter never gets enough of
1)Laundry detergent
2)bigger size diapers ( like someone else mentioned - bigger than newborn )
3) training pants
4) Meat ( canned or otherwise)
5)trash bags

Those are just off the top of my head.

[Bear]

My local food pantry says they are always looking for flour, sugar, shortening, ketchup, mustard, and anything you can't buy with food stamps (laundry det, soap, toothpaste, etc).

[Leanna]

I am also interested in any new donation ideas, Baird, and probably share similar limits bc of arthritis, etc. It makes me feel like I am doing my part, though, by using coupons to be able to donate WAY more than I could do otherwise.

My food pantry also is grateful for hygiene items since people receive no assistance for these. They also run low on cereal. I tried to donate a couple of the accu-meters and they could not take them, so I could use suggestions on where to take these.

I donate a lot to deployed soldiers though anysoldier.com.

[LUV2KLIP]

Contact the Joslin Diabetes Clinic and ask them if they know fo any local places you could donate them.
Also can contact a local Endocrinologist DR's office and ask if they would be willing to take them to hand out to any diabetics who have no insurance and/or low income that could use them.
Another source is to contact local hospital and speak with someone who runs a diabetic support group there..or anywhere in your community.

HTH!

[CherryPicker]

1) You can google....for example....google food pantry + the name of your town or homeless shelters + the name of your town.

2) What I like to do is once I have my charities in place, I like to follow through with a personal phone call to find out what their current needs are....as well as what items they need most often. From those discussions, I will then create a personal shopping list for reference. Since every community is different, each community will vary on what their need items are. HTH.

[mommamia]

You can check your area too for "free clinics" they love to get all of these things for there patients!! Women's shelters can always use the "feminine products" and shampoo's, toothpaste and tooth brushes etc.

[FrugalEngineer]

This is a wish list for a women's shelter near me. It looks like a pretty good list for anywhere...and things easy to get with your Qs. http://www.safehome-ks.org/SiteResou...les/1.1.09.pdf Some are things I might not have thought of.