Donated So Far
You might be surprised to hear just how this whole idea got started. It started on a Sunday evening in October. On monday, a food drive at my roommates' work was ending. When they checked the bin, there was only a few items that had been collected. What's worse is the charity, Metropolitan Ministries, had recently announced they were completely out of food.
We had planned on going to see a movie that night, but instead went to shop for some food to donate. Once we got to the first aisle, we had a dilemma. What to buy? How much to buy? How much to spend?
Norasha suggested that we think of our trip as stocking up a few families for a holiday meal. We decided to buy three of everything to do with the holidays: stuffing, green beans, yams, you get the picture.
Once we had gone down a couple aisles, we realized that people need to eat more than just a couple days a year. So we started grabbing three (or six, or nine) of other things: beef stew, rice, beans, and canned soups.
We saw Spaghetti-Os and realized that it's not just grown-up appetites we needed to think about. So, into the cart we added kid friendly foods, like Chef Boyardee, bottled fruit juice, and even grabbed a few bags of Halloween candy.
We knew that Metropolitan Ministries also need toiletries for their shelter. So we topped off our cart with a bunch of travel sized toiletries like soap and toothpaste.
Norasha & Gregg with cart #1
We seriously thought we had spent around $350 on all the food and toiletries in our overflowing cart. Turned out that all that food was only about $130 (the toiletries were another $50). That was when we realized there are a lot of people who could afford to fill a cart full of food.
Mother Teresa said "give until it hurts." But you know what? $130 between the three of us didn't really hurt much at all. In fact, we ended up going back in and filling a second cart! We've all donated a bag of food scrounged out of our pantry before, but nothing compares to the feeling of filling an entire shopping cart.
Norasha & Sarah with Cart #2
FillACart.org is designed to get more people donating more food to local charities. We hope to get you (yes you!) to fill a cart for a charity in your community. We've also lined up a sponsor to give you a free t-shirt when you reach $100 in total donations!
The more people are talking about helping and showing that they are helping, the more good we can all accomplish. You don't have to do it alone. Do what we did and get some friends together to share the effort. Ask your employer to sponsor a cart. Get permission to set up a donations table in front of a grocery store. Volunteer to organize food or make deliveries. You'll find the tools to make it all happen on the site. We promise you'll feel good doing it.
