[TJ_2008]

I went to the Salvation Army today and Donated a bunch of Food items!

I would say the Donation was worth about $500
I might have spent $55 Oop for all that stuff (= when you ad taxes and some cents for items which were not completely free)

Included were Cereal, Sweets, Condiments, Tee, Soup, Canned Groceries, Boxed Groceries and so on.

I had my Kids help me pack all the stuff. When we arrived and dropped of the Donation this nice Lady asked us if we would like to see what they are doing with all those Donations.

Of course I said yes!

First of all, I think it is important for me to refresh my mind a bit to see what is really going on with some people, second of all I find it extremely important that my kids see that other people might not be as fortunate as we are and DD and DS just CAN'T take everything for granted!

She showed us the Soup Kitchen, explained which businesses actually Donate groceries, explained to us what programs they offer for low income families and their kids, how they support them and so on.

I was very impressed!!!


One question for y'all though:
She gave me some receipt for my taxes. I honestly do not quite know what to do with it. How do you handle those?!

[bigshirley]

I donate regularly to the local food shelter where I live.

Before I left for deployment, I cleaned out my kitchen. Anything I knew my husband would not make and it would expire before I got home I took. It was a car load full.

It definitely is a great feeling to be able to help others out!

The reciepts can be used for your taxes. If your a big donator and you have more than 200$ ( i think) then you will need to keep your reciepts to prove your donations.

But if its less than 200$ you can claim on your taxes, without reciepts. Of course this is only if you itemize your deductions.

For this stuff, I dont keep only because I dont feel the need to claim the donations. To me thats the point of it...a donation. I dont do it to get something back.

I looking forward to being home, and making my cookies trays to donate at christmas time.

GOOD JOB!!

[Justlooking1208]

Congratulations! It always makes you feel great to do something nice like that!!

[simmonds4]

Awesome! I totally agree with you! It is very important for the kids to take in this kind of experience too. That is how we started, now that they are a little older they actually go to a womens shelter once a month and cook lunch with their youth group.

Thank you for sharing a great experience!

[mmjrsj]

That was nice. Save the reciept in case you donate more then when you file you taxes it will help lower them

[TJ_2008]

Thank you, guys!!

simmonds4: I find it wonderful that your kids help out at the women shelter! It is good to see that there are still kids with the right values!

[JaimeDae]

That is so great of you to do!

[mgmetts]

Awesome! Now that I am accumulating more than I can eat or even store I plan to start donating too. I definitely want my daughter involved to see there are people a lot less fortunate than us.

[momster4de3]

That's wonderful - and it's fantastic that you took your children along to experience the joy of giving and planting the idea of service to their community. Our kids grew up giving and helping. They loved delivering food baskets and helping cook Thanksgiving dinners for the shelters in our area - a tradition we still continue today and they are now doing on their own as adults. Save your receipt, esp. if you do a long form for taxes - it all adds up on Schedule A and helps you pay less tax, and as you know saving $$ for your family is very important.

[Drea]

Awwww, that was so nice of you....

[TJ_2008]

Originally Posted by momster4de3

That's wonderful - and it's fantastic that you took your children along to experience the joy of giving and planting the idea of service to their community. Our kids grew up giving and helping. They loved delivering food baskets and helping cook Thanksgiving dinners for the shelters in our area - a tradition we still continue today and they are now doing on their own as adults. Save your receipt, esp. if you do a long form for taxes - it all adds up on Schedule A and helps you pay less tax, and as you know saving $$ for your family is very important.

Thank you for explaining!

What a wonderful tradition THANK YOU!

[Susuz]

Good for you and great for your kids! Our family does this and it is so good for everyone involved.....I agree with the other posters, keep it for your taxes...I usually just go through and make a simple list of what I donate (5 boxes of cereal, 15 deodorants, etc.) and approximate value. It does add up and we try to donate once a month.

I keep a box in my utility room and place items in it as they accumulate, then out to the garage where I have boxes for each charity I donate to regularly with a list taped to the outside of each one..., (Women's shelter, Homeless shelter, DD's School, Free medical clinic, boxes to mail to the soldiers, church and Children's shelter.) When I am going by one of them I just have to pick up the box, load and go!

This is another reason I love AFC! There used to be a thread you could go on and list each month what you donated and where.

[~shellie~]

We recently were introduced to a needy family. A mother and her 3 boys. The 2 oldest are twins and are both special needs. They are very poor and weren't able to buy school clothing or supplies. We were able to provide them all with new clothes and each their own backpacks filled with all their school supplies. We also gave them tons of food and toiletries. I feel very blessed to have all we have and it feels great to be able to help others who are truly in need.