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Knowing your Donation Audience

When donating to the Hungry, food banks, shelters, homeless, low-income. It helps to know your audience. Donating to feed the hungry is one of the best ways of helping someone you may never meet that can make the biggest impact on someone’s life.

I know this because for years I was a frequent visitor of local food banks, even though I received food stamps. I had three children and a disabled husband. I lived in Maryland, and North Carolina. I made a decent wage, but after rent, car, insurance, childcare, clothing for growing children, gas, it never seemed to go far enough. Food Banks were a great way to supplement what I bought with Food Stamps to make it through the month

Homeless

I was homeless for 6 weeks with three children and a husband. That is a story for another time. For a week We got 1 hot meal a day. There was an organization that is unfortunately no longer around that feed lunch to anyone who came in the door of a thrift shop/work center location. Local churches took turns fixing the meals from the donations at the food bank at the center. 

We stayed at a campground. The first night we had a tarp to sleep under. We were given a tent, I got a job housekeeping, my husband got a job doing maintenance as a helper, and for six weeks we lived out of a tent at a campground. By the time we left, we had two tents, two grills, mini fridges, an a/c unit for one of the tents, and we donated it all to the center for others.

Dumpster diving and the Perks of Housekeeping/Maintenance

Now, you may say how did we wind up with mini fridges, grills, a/c unit, and two tents. Why didn’t we spend that money or save it towards housing. We didn’t spend money on any of it. Both tents were given to us, by tourists not wanting to take them home. The mini fridges were given to us by the maintenance company my husband worked for at the time. Every season, they replaced them with new ones and threw the old ones out. He brought them to us so we could safely store food. Same with the grills. It allowed us to cook easily for a family of 5. Working housekeeping, I would bring home food left behind by tourists who rented houses for $10,000 dollars a week. They would buy food freeze it, and leave it. We ate it. We got bread from a local bakery that would toss bread out the day before it’s sell by date. We ate it. This is how we saved money to move into an apartment. We let go of pride and made sure the kids ate, had a roof of some kind, and worked.

Two Steps forward another Step Back

My husband has been fully disabled since 2006. I have been unemployed twice since then, both times health related.  Once due to a near fatal car accident, and another due to seizures and complications caused from that car accident years later. Food banks and family were our rock during those times. There were times I thought we would never recover.

We never had to worry again about a roof over our heads, but we still faced times of food insecurity. Food Banks helped once again. When you are unemployed, and even though your husband is disabled you are going through the process to receive disability payments. You have to make sure electric, gas, and bills are paid. Food banks fill a need. A need I believe we will see increase in the days a head. 

Moving Towards the future

We have been blessed to not have needed a food bank or their services in over a decade. I pray we don’t again. I pray those resources continue to go to someone else in need. Now I work in a field where I help those in need and those with disabilities. I provide resources and connect those in need of treatment with help. I give back to the community I was once a part of. The road out was not easy, but we are making it. Now, to plan for future retirement and life of empty nesters.

How to Know your Audience and Donate.

I told you our story so you understand there are different types of homeless, and different levels of food insecure. Some don’t know where their next meal is coming from or have a place to prepare it. Others simply need help to further their wage and make it to the end of the month.

Food Banks

Most of the time when you go to small food banks, you get canned goods, cereal, bread, instant potatoes, mac n cheese, spaghetti and sauce, rice, dry beans, and if it has a partnership with a grocery store some fresh items like salads, sandwiches, and other items from the bakery and deli. If it is partnered with the USDA you will receive some meat. And always! Peanut Butter! These are all great items. Especially if someone is supplementing like I did with Food stamps. They are mostly donated by individuals like you and I with a heart for those in need.

Food Pantries/Kiosks

You may find these outside churches or in local communities outside known local homeless areas. These need to be stocked in a particular way. They need quic, meals that can be made in a microwave at a gas station, over a camp stove, fire, or eaten cold. Dried beans is labor intensive and not something an urban homeless person can easily prepare. Hanging on to a can opener when you are homeless and keep it sanitary can be difficult. Do not donate things that require milk or butter to cook. Obtaining these items and storing them can be problematic. When you aren’t even sure where you are going to be sleeping that night.

Items good for ALL.

Pop top cans. Even at food banks. Elderly and disabled may have problems with can openers. Being able to pop a top makes accessing canned food easier. 

• Fruit-Pop tops or fruit cups
• Spam, Beef Stew, and other Canned Meats
• Jelly-a guarateed staple of food banks and pantries is peanut butter. How can you have a PB & J with no J. This can make a sweet low cost high protein treat.
• Sanitary Items-soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes socks, feminine products, diapers and diaper wipes. Neosporin, Band-Aids, deodorant, and shampoo. (It doesn’t even have to be full size. We all are guilty of grabbing stuff from hotels. Go grab all that taking up space in your bathroom drawers.)
• crayons and coloring books. Stickers. The joy young children get from finding something just for them in the package can be blinding.

Food Pantry/Kiosk

• The same things as above
• Nothing that requires Milk or Butter to cook.
• Knorr has some wonderful Instant mashed potatoes that only require water. This is a wonderful item to include in a pantry geared toward the homeless
• Add water Mac n Cheese.

Final notes

This is not to discourage anyone from food collection drives or to restrict donations. If you don’t get what you need or get an overabundance, contact other foodbanks in you area and donate your overabundance. The goal is to meet and eliminate food insecurities, and provide respect and joy to those in a hard place.

For those who have never experienced food insecurities be thankful. I hope this helps you see the issue in a new light. To know that not all of those are there just for hand outs cause they can. Not everyone who uses them always has to do so. I do all I can now to support those in my area fulfill their purpose. Find the food banks and pantries in your area. Ask what they need. Be the part of the solution. Thank you from someone who at one time needed these places and was thankful everyday they were there.