What Do You Do to Help Out Fellow Citizens?

As I am typing this article, my husband is sitting on the couch watching the movie Kick Ass. In between typing, and playing on the computer, a part of the movie caught my attention. What would you do to help your fellow citizens?

That is an important question that got my mind working once again. We always say we are going to help people out, but we never do it until something tragic happens to pull us together as a country, a city or nation.

So I asked myself what I could do to help out my fellow citizens more, and decided to make a list.

1) Donation of Clothing. Many people donate there clothing, and this is a good thing. There are a lot of people that can not afford to by clothing. I rarely donate any clothing to Good Will or the Salvation Army. The reason for this is I know a few families that can not afford to buy clothing, so I give all my children clothing to them.

2) Donation of household items. Anything I own that can not be worn I like to give away to Good Will or the Salvation Army. Pots, pans, bedding, etc all goes to resale stores.

3) Baby furniture, items. Cribs, strollers, etc are all in demand for most parents. If you ever had a child you know how expensive buying things for a baby can be. I did not just donate them to anyone. I called my local high school, and talked to the school counselor. I explained to him I had a bunch of baby furniture and other items I am giving away. There are a lot teenagers that have babies, and if anyone needs them it is a teenager with no money or job.

4) Books. Books are expensive to buy, especially if you need a large supply of them. I like to donate my children books they no longer want to the local school. My own personal book collection I donated to my local library.

5) Money. If a friend of mine, or family member, is hard up for cash the last thing I want to do is hurt there pride. Normally what I do in this case is offer them to do a job for me. It is a win-win situation, especially if you hate painting or mowing the lawn.

6) Food. About ever three months I like to clean out my pantry. You would be amazed at what you will find. At times I buy something cause it sounds good, but never make it. When it comes to food, I like to donate them to the red cross.

7) Lose change. Whenever I am walking into a store and see someone outside taking donation, will always give them the lose change in my pocket. It may not be much, but those pennies do add up.

All of this may not be much, but the little things we can do to help out each other will go along way to someone else.