- Dec 1, 2013
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I have a half-formed idea, and I wonder if other can expand on it a little.
I was talking to someone yesterday and the conversation turned to helping others. She is on a very limited income and lives in a place where many people need help, and people dump off animals that need to be taken care of, and so on.
We talked about how Father said that if we give someone a dollar or two and they use it to buy alcohol instead of a sandwich, that is their sin and at least we gave something. And I know that - but I've also been almost accosted by men asking for money for food and watched them go into the liquor store instead. We may be tempted to sin in our thoughts by their possible bad motives. And some of us aren't saintly enough to be able to get over those thoughts.
So anyway - she was talking about ways to help people without feeling like she was taking food from her own children's mouths, but still able to help others, and I feel as though she had LOTS of good ideas. They might not all be practical for everyone, but it got me to thinking that people must have good ideas out there, so I was hoping some might like to discuss it?
She said sometimes she buys beef jerky on sale in large packages and puts a few strips in ziplocs and carries them in her car, and gives them to "homeless" people who ask for food. It's very nutrient dense and will "keep" in the car.
She watches for sales on crackers (like the cheese or peanut butter crackers) that are sometimes buy-1-get-1 (or even get-2), and she uses the one, but puts the free ones back to give away in the same way.
She mentioned coupons, and when I asked if she gets them from the paper (I stopped taking the paper many years ago) she says if she can save at least $5 on groceries with the coupons, she will spend the $2 on the paper. And anything over $5 she saves, she puts back to use for alms.
Other people I have spoken with put up packages of things like hotel toiletries or free samples and give them away. Some buy toothbrushes in large packages at a good discount.
I'm sure there must be many other good ideas out there?
Oh, and the way that we got on the topic - I saw a half-grown kitten in a parking lot behind McDonald's. Someone had dropped a bun, I think, and it looked like it had been run over multiple times and was ground into the concrete. I watched this pitiful, skinny little cat scrape at the bread on the concrete, trying to eat it. It was terrified of my headlights and kept staring at me, but kept going back to the bread. After debating what I might buy at McDonald's it would eat, I went instead to a nearby drugstore and bought a couple of cans of cat food, found it again (it had run behind a building) and while it watched from the bushes (it kept running away) I opened a can and set it on the ground and left. It was such a pitiful sight. Later the can was cleaned out, so I hoped the kitten ate it and not some wandering possum.
I used to keep supplies like that in my car, but I don't any more. But she said she will buy a bag of dry food and keep it in baggies in her car, and pour it on the ground near a starving animal.
I realize our primary concern is people, but I think kindness in any form is valuable.
Anyway - any ideas? Can we develop this further in other ways to share ideas and be of benefit to us?
I was talking to someone yesterday and the conversation turned to helping others. She is on a very limited income and lives in a place where many people need help, and people dump off animals that need to be taken care of, and so on.
We talked about how Father said that if we give someone a dollar or two and they use it to buy alcohol instead of a sandwich, that is their sin and at least we gave something. And I know that - but I've also been almost accosted by men asking for money for food and watched them go into the liquor store instead. We may be tempted to sin in our thoughts by their possible bad motives. And some of us aren't saintly enough to be able to get over those thoughts.
So anyway - she was talking about ways to help people without feeling like she was taking food from her own children's mouths, but still able to help others, and I feel as though she had LOTS of good ideas. They might not all be practical for everyone, but it got me to thinking that people must have good ideas out there, so I was hoping some might like to discuss it?
She said sometimes she buys beef jerky on sale in large packages and puts a few strips in ziplocs and carries them in her car, and gives them to "homeless" people who ask for food. It's very nutrient dense and will "keep" in the car.
She watches for sales on crackers (like the cheese or peanut butter crackers) that are sometimes buy-1-get-1 (or even get-2), and she uses the one, but puts the free ones back to give away in the same way.
She mentioned coupons, and when I asked if she gets them from the paper (I stopped taking the paper many years ago) she says if she can save at least $5 on groceries with the coupons, she will spend the $2 on the paper. And anything over $5 she saves, she puts back to use for alms.
Other people I have spoken with put up packages of things like hotel toiletries or free samples and give them away. Some buy toothbrushes in large packages at a good discount.
I'm sure there must be many other good ideas out there?
Oh, and the way that we got on the topic - I saw a half-grown kitten in a parking lot behind McDonald's. Someone had dropped a bun, I think, and it looked like it had been run over multiple times and was ground into the concrete. I watched this pitiful, skinny little cat scrape at the bread on the concrete, trying to eat it. It was terrified of my headlights and kept staring at me, but kept going back to the bread. After debating what I might buy at McDonald's it would eat, I went instead to a nearby drugstore and bought a couple of cans of cat food, found it again (it had run behind a building) and while it watched from the bushes (it kept running away) I opened a can and set it on the ground and left. It was such a pitiful sight. Later the can was cleaned out, so I hoped the kitten ate it and not some wandering possum.
I used to keep supplies like that in my car, but I don't any more. But she said she will buy a bag of dry food and keep it in baggies in her car, and pour it on the ground near a starving animal.
I realize our primary concern is people, but I think kindness in any form is valuable.
Anyway - any ideas? Can we develop this further in other ways to share ideas and be of benefit to us?