This week I’ve asked some fellow Couponing for Community participants to share how they have used coupons to GIVE and offer us tips on making our giving even BIGGER. Today I share some stories from my heart about why giving is so important to me.
My Childhood Home, circa 1978
It is a harsh winter day. Illness has hit me and my brother and sister hard. But my father’s small country church salary left no room for ‘extras’ which included money for the medicine that we needed. The long winter has taxed our family to the point that even paying for heat is not in our budget.
This night we all huddle around the small wood stove in our living room, wracked with fevers and wrapped in blankets. The phone begins to ring. One by one callers ask if we need anything. One by one, friends come to the door followed by bags of groceries, gifts of money and overwhelming kindness.
HOPE.
Lynchburg, VA circa 1998
I’m now a college student whose parents have moved overseas as missionaries. I’m a student teacher and I’m broke. I’m standing in line at Kroger paying for a few small items to get me through the week and discover that I am several dollars short of my total. Tears begin to well as I consider which of the items I can go without. Suddenly the woman behind me reaches over and presses a handful of bills into my hand. I glance back with tear-filled eyes and she smiles graciously.
HOPE.
Our first little garage apartment, circa 2009
I’m married with one son and another on the way in a few short months. The phone rings. “They let me go,” comes my husband’s stunned voice.
18 months of uncertainty, temp jobs and dashed hopes follow. 18 long months.
But our needs are met when we need it most. In the form of gracious landlords returning our rent in the leanest months. In the form of WIC checks helping to feed our children, and envelopes of cash showing up in unexpected places.
And in the form of a new-found discovery — a little something called couponing.
HOPE.
Why do I give? I known there is a need. I know there are children with health needs being unmet, women at the grocery store trying to decide if they can go without bread or without milk that week and countless couples — young and old — facing uncertain futures, unsure of how they will provide for their families.
I know what need feels like.
And HOPE.
There is nothing more beautiful than HOPE.
That’s why I give.
Why do you give? I’d love to hear your stories too.
Learn more about Couponing for Community 2012 here and find out how YOU can join couponers nation-wide in GIVING 30,000+ items during the week of May 6-12. It’s going to be BIG.