Homemakers Can Fight Poverty

Homemakers fight poverty today during Blog Action Day!  Today is 2nd annual Blog Action Day and we are joining the fight with over 11,000 other bloggers to reach our 12 million readers.  This event is on a different subject every year, but its aim is to show that one person CAN make a difference!  This article is written backwards, with what should be the end at the very beginning; the 10 ways for homemakers to fight poverty is first, then afterwards a little bit about why.   That’s because I feel it is so important to share with you all the small ways you can help someone in need right now.
What can you do to make a difference?  I mean, you’re just one person, maybe a homemaker in a tight financial situation, trying to pay off debt and take care of your family.  Right?  That may be your situation, but there are many things you can do without a lot of money at your disposal to help fight poverty, starting in your very own community.  Decluttering your home can benefit people truly in need, as can getting freebies and coupon deals on groceries.  Here’s how.

10 Ways Homemakers Can Fight Poverty Right Now

1.  Get to know your local shelters.  Women’s shelters, homeless shelters, and natural disaster emergency shelters, are a great place to start.  They operate on limited funds out of the desire to help people, and every item you give (from clothes to diapers to band-aids) can make a huge difference to someone going without.

2.  Donate your children’s old coats and winter gear to a local shelter or Goodwill.

3.  Declutter kids’ too-small clothes to donate.  A box full of old clothes in your garage might supply a needy child with back-to-school clothes for the whole year.

4.  Donate old backpacks filled with extra school supplies, such as pencils, erasers, paper, and even lunch boxes.

5.  Many churches will help identify families that are really struggling while keeping their identity private.  They have lists of specific items the family needs, like weather stripping for doors, firewood, or baby supplies.  Check with churches in your area to find out if any have similar programs.

6.  Donate old baby supplies and gear, such as cloth diapers, bottles, even unopened cans of baby formula.  Big items such as cribs, baby swings and car seats can relieve stress on a new parent who can’t afford the things they’ll need for their new baby.

7.  Stock up for your local Food Bank!  We couponers find great deals on groceries, and often get big stockups on free and nearly-free food.  Can you set even a small portion of those good food deals to take to the Food Bank for a family in need?

8.  Freebies and free samples. Even if you don’t need or want the free items for yourself, request them anyway to donate!  Great items like t-shirts, vitamins, baby bottles, womens’ sanitary products, and more can be donated to shelters or given to struggling families.

9.  Declutter your kids’ old toys and books.  Wrap them up and take them to kids at a local shelter at holiday time or anytime.

10.  Let your local WIC office know of used kids’ or baby gear you may have to give to an expectant mother in need.

Poverty Can Be Temporary

Remember that poverty is not necessarily a lifelong condition.  It could strike any one of us at any moment.  Circumstances can change without notice – jobs can be lost, divorces can happen, loved ones can die, natural disasters can occur. I’m sure most people will agree that they have experienced poverty at some point in their life.  Even if the experience wasn’t firsthand, maybe it was one of their childhood friends, one of their own child’s classmates, or a coworker or customer.

This subject is very personal for me, since I have experienced poverty both firsthand and in others:

• I grew up in a very poor family during the recession of the 80s with a working parent who just couldn’t make enough to support the family.  Times were tough, and I remember getting donated food boxes from the Food Bank because we couldn’t afford groceries.
• I grew up in a home plagued by domestic violence, and spent some time at the women’s shelter in my town, which gives displaced women and their children a home while they get reestablished.
• A friend of mine in elementary school, Angeline, was so poor that her family couldn’t afford a winter coat or gloves for her.  I remember her digging through the lost and found at school to take two unmatched gloves (after getting frostbite standing at the bus stop- she was desperate).
• As an adult, I worked for a non-profit clinic that provided health care to people who couldn’t afford it.  Sadly, some of them decided between medicine and food on a regular basis.
• As a frugal family, in the past we’ve been able to stretch our resources enough that our daughter never knew when things were really bad for us financially.
• My daughter tells tales of a “stinky girl” at her school who is from a poor family.  She wears her dad’s old clothes, has no running water at home, and unfortunately has no friends at school.

What Poverty Looks Like in Your Neighborhood

You may not even SEE the poverty around you!  People struggle with making ends meet every day in what appear to be middle-class households.  Some of your own friends, acquaintances, even relatives may hide it well, but lose sleep at night worrying about how they will take care of their families.

Know that your small actions now, which may not seem to have a big impact, will be helping people through their toughest of times.  This reminds me of a story from Tony Robbins, my mentor and coach:

Tony  often tells of the story of his childhood Thanksgiving.  His family was very poor and couldn’t afford a Thanksgiving dinner, and people brought a dinner to his house with donated food from a local group.  Tony was so grateful to those people for caring about complete strangers, for making a difference in someone’s life that they didn’t even know, that it had a lasting impact on his life.  As an adult, Tony fed families anonymously each year by going as the delivery boy.  Then in 1991, he started the Anthony Robbins Foundation to feed over 2 million people in need worldwide!  (They also have a donation section on their website if you’d like to contribute.)  2 million people receive help now every year, and all because of ONE tiny action – all because one family that cared took him a Thanksgiving dinner as a child, and he never forgot.

Fighting Poverty in the Ice-Simmons House:  Today, I have decluttered my kids’ outgrown clothes and my own closet and have 10 bags to donate to our local women’s shelter, the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living.  My thanks go out to everyone who chooses one of the 10 Ways Homemakers Can Fight Poverty Right Now and takes action today.

However small you think it is, the action you take today to fight poverty may change someone’s life or even change the world!