Grocery Coupons and Charitable Contributions

I touched on this briefly in my last post about how to use grocery coupons for charitable contributions and food contributions during this time of year. But in truth, I would be remiss if I got so far ahead of myself and I failed to mention that grocery coupons and charitable contributions really do go hand-in-hand during the entire of the year. Food banks are always in need of donation and there are almost always free items to be found in every week’s grocery sales fliers when you use grocery coupons.

You see, grocery coupons make many good offers exceptional. Every single week there are freebies on nonperishable goods. Freebies make it easy to give to those less fortunate even without much money to donate. All of us can take the time, and use our skills rather than donate money if we are light on financial resources. I saw quite a few people grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner when I was in the store today doing my own shopping. Many used coupons, and many dropped a few items in the food barrels on their way out of the store.

But what really surprised me as I walked out the door putting my own donation in the bin, was what I saw happening outside the store. I watched as a teenage girl made a donation to the Salvation Army bell ringer. The red kettles are out in full force today as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and we get into the thick of the holiday season. I watched as a young woman of 16 put over $50 into kettle. Intrigued, I had a chance to speak with her as we both walked to the parking lot. I mentioned to her that it was quite a generous donation she had just made and to my utter surprise she volunteered the information that she just donated the money she had saved on her Thanksgiving dinner with grocery coupons. She is a long time coupon shopper and does such a good job that her mother charges here with the grocery shopping.

A donation to other charities with the money saved from coupon shopping was an idea I had not really thought of. I usually donate the free food I get when using grocery coupons to the food bank, but that is it as far as the coupons go anyway. She said that the Salvation Army was her charity of choice and that they could use cash donations in lieu of food. She merely paid for the full price of her order that day, and then had the cashier give her the money she saved with her coupons in cash. The cash he saved became her donation. She said her family approved of the idea prior to the trip, her mother deciding that she would have paid full price anyway were it not for her daughter’s excellent shopping skills. One week’s savings was hardly a stretch when she was saving the other 51 weeks a year.

What a fantastic idea from a very generous young woman. It reminded me that there are so many worthy organizations in need of donations especially at this time of year. So this year, I will be making other donations in addition to the free food items I'm able to get at the grocery store with grocery discount coupons. I'm sure the Salvation Army as well as other worthy charities will be on my list.