Day 272: Oatmeal and Black Beans

Oatmeal and black beans.  I know, a totally disgusting combination, but they are by no means meant to be enjoyed together. I took advantage of green bean delivery again today. I donated an 8 ounce container of oatmeal and an extra can of black beans. To be honest, I like both of these food items (unlike the week I purchased a bunch of low sodium/low calorie/low fat soup), but since I have no immediate plans to eat either one, I decided that someone else could use them more.

Day 271: $1 to Special Ed Programs

I decided just to tip the Eagle Eatery Express today instead of purchase a decadent brownie (pushing the cost of my lunch to $5.75) and tell them to keep the change. So, I paid the same amount that I usually do--$6.00--but I probably saved a good 400 calories or so (seriously). This year a different student/teacher combination seems to drop the lunch off each time we order. I liked it a bit better last year when we got to know a student or two from the special ed department throughout the school year.

Day 270: $10 to Volley for the Cure

I'm not really sure that today's donation amounts to exactly $10 considering that I received a black and pink t-shirt for my donation. This sort of donation accomplishes more than one goal for me. First and foremost, I am supporting breast cancer research. Secondly, I am supporting my students who are volleyball players (there are quite a few this year). Finally, I get to wear a t-shirt to school on Thursday which for some odd reason is an event to look forward to. Sad, I know.  When you teach public school, you end up looking forward to dress-up days, pizza for lunch, snow days, and the occasional fire drill on a particularly nice, sunny day.  I've always dreamed about the water main break, too, but it has never come our way.

Day 269: $1 to homeless pets

I stopped by Pet Smart today to pick up some kitty litter for Agatha and the Fatter Catter. I glanced at the poor homeless kitties, wanted to adopt every single one, and walked away to the pet supply section. At the checkout counter, I added a dollar to my bill for homeless pets. Pet Smart charities seem like the perfect donation for someone like me. Otherwise, I might become one of those weird pet hoarders.

Day 268: $1 to The Cure Starts Now

This may have been the most delicious donation to date. Graeter's Ice Cream was giving away free ice cream cones today with Elena's Blueberry Pie flavored ice cream. In return, I gave a dollar donation to The Cure Starts Now which funds cancer research. This particular fund drive is called Cones for the Cure.  What's really fun about this is that most of these sorts of fundraisers involve 5K runs, but this ne involves eating delicious ice cream.

Day 267: $1 Share the Bread

I went to Panera for breakfast (and a little grading) which included an egg sandwich, orange juice, and coffee. Lucky for me, my sandwich was free with my MyPanera card, so it was no problem to donate an extra dollar to Share the Bread.  I accomplished much of my grading as well--at least three hours worth of my time, but I feel a little bit less stressed. I still have 22 English 111 papers waiting for me though. 

Day 266: $1 to School Gardens

It was a more than successful trip to Whole Foods this afternoon, where I found my favorite strawberry habenero salsa. I had planned in munching on this during the Bengals game only to find out later that the game won't be televised (more time for grading and lawn mowing I suppose).  Anyway, I added a dollar on to my bill to support school gardens. I think Milford HS is actually starting a school garden. I should pass along the grant opportunity. Wouldn't it be amazing if my money actually ended up in the school where I work?

Day 265: salad dressing and cereal

I was able to leave a few items for the Freestore Fodbank today in my Green Bean Delivery bin. I donated a jar of Thousand Island dressing (ok, so I won;t be having Reubens for awhile, no problem), and I also donated four tiny, individual size boxes of Special K cereal with strawberries. The boxes are 100 calories a piece, and I originally purchased them for breakfast on school days, but I still much prefer a granola bar with coffee even if it's a few more calories.

Day 264: 50 cents to Cincinnati Children's Hospital

Today's donation is oddly similar to yesterday's. This time, I was stopping at Walmart to purchase colored paper for school (again another sort of donation). Since I was at the Colerain Walmart on the way home from Oxford, I was hoping that the strange plastic baby in the fake incubator would still be on display.  I was in luck!  The baby was still there, so I threw my change on it/him/her as it/him/her lay in the strangely crafted scene.  There wasn't that much more money than two days ago, I noticed.

Day 263: 50 cents to St. Jude's Hospital

Even though I am not at all low on toilet paper, I noticed at Target today (where I was buying dry erase markers for school--a donation in its own right) that if I purchased a multi-pack of Cottonelle for $10.99 that five percent of the purchase cost would be donated to St. Jude's Hospital. Of course, I reasoned, that I would eventually need toilet paper, so I made the purchase early. I think this type of giving is a great idea. I would definitely switch brands (even if I wasn't engaging in this year-long experiment) in order to give 50 cents to an organization like St. Jude's.

Day 262: $1 to Children's Hospital

On my way to my second job (college instructor) I stopped at Walmart to purchase some toilet paper, paper towels, and peanut butter--an odd combination, I know. While in Walmart, I pondered whether or not this type of establishment would offer an opportunity to donate (apart from beggars that might accost me in the parking lot). In my elitist fashion, I concluded that Walmart is surely not the place for charitable organizations to solicit donations. The shoppers at Walmart are looking for a bargain, not a chance to give away their money.  Therefore, I was surprised on my way out to see a strange plastic incubator (probably from the 1970s) with a plastic baby doll inside. The baby doll looked happy to be in the incubator, but I suppose it's difficult to find a unhealthy looking doll. Draping the lower half of this odd contraption was a table cloth of sorts that said "Children's Hospital."  I stared at the display, wondering where they might be collecting money, when I finally noticed that the top of the incubator had a slot and the idea was to simply throw your money on the baby inside! I proceeded as a few others had before me, and threw my dollar at the helpless doll. I should have taken a photo, really.

Day 261: three shirts

Today's donation is in no way glamorous, but hopefully someone will still be able to benefit. I donated yet another Flock t-shirt (I still have at least one that I can wear if need be) and two other sleeveless tops. One was a plain, maroon tank that I've been holding on for far too long and is really far too large. The other is a turquoise tank with burnished beading across the top. I actually really liked this top, but I never found much to wear it with. In the three years or so that I owned this top, I think I wore it once. That means someone else needs it more than I do.

Day 260: $1 to Autism

I think I took the easy way out again. I donated one dollar to Autism (or I suppose Autism awareness) at Kroger. I wanted to "round up for the hungry," and I was going to ask the cashier if they still did that at Kroger (or if it was even Kroger where they originally did this) but when I saw the plastic box on the counter to donate to Autism, I just took advantage of it immediately.  Again, I'm not sure if it matters that my donations lately have been with little thought or care.  What probably matters is that I'm donating at all. I really can't believe it's day 260 of this experiment. Some days I'm not sure if I have the energy or time to continue this, but then I still do.

Day 259: $5 (or $50) to the Milford Schools Foundation

The school district that I work for finally has a charitable foundation that grants money to teachers and teacher project within the district. I hope to actually apply for a grant shortly to support the student-led writing center, but I also wanted to donate to the foundation. I sent an email to the English department to see if anyone else wanted to donate $5, and then we could send the money as a donation from the MHS English department.  I ended up collecting $50 from eight people (including myself). This accounts for a little less than half of our department members, which in some ways was disappointing to me, but in other ways predictable.  Without making judgements, the usual suspects donated the money.  There are some people you can always count on.

Day 258: Twenty cents to National Breast Cancer Foundation

My friend and colleague Erin helped me out with this donation. She was eating Dannon Greek yogurt at lunch, and noted that instead of saving and donating the lids to the yogurt (I think this is what Yoplait does) with the Dannon yogurt you can just go online and enter a code written on the lid. I asked Erin if I could have her lid, and she was happy to give it to me. Even though it's incredibly easy to just go to the website and enter the code, I imagine that the vast majority of people do not actually do this.  So far, Dannon has raised over $210,000, which is great, but you've got to think that they are reaching more people than that. I may purchase Dannon myself this weekend just to donate again.

Day 257: Twenty-five cents to special needs students

I was able to tell the special needs students to "keep the change" when they delivered my lunch (the Eagle Eatery Express) today. Even though this donation seems meager, I am also supporting the program by ordering lunch from the EEE once a month. I think it's a bargain, and I like the idea of helping students with their social skills and contributing a small bit of money to their educational programs (e.g., field trips and the like). I wish there were more programs like this to support so easily.

Day 256: $1 to Milford Miami Ministries

My first attempt at donating to a charity today was thwarted. I took a $5 bill into Panera this morning with the full intention of completing my daily obligation by donating to Share the Bread with some of the change from my coffee. Instead, Panera gave me free coffee, and I had no change to donate. What's interesting, is that it did not cross my mind once (in fact it did not cross my mind until this very moment) that I could have easily donated the entire five dollars.  I was so intent on stuffing a one dollar bill into the little plastic collection box, that my brain never went the one step further.  Fortunately, later in the day when I decided to finally change my oil, I was able to add one dollar to the collection jar for Milford Miami Ministries. I had my oil changed at Milford Oil and Lube, a local business that only charged me $26, was finished in about ten minutes, and didn't try to sell me an air filter or any other such nonsense. Because the business practices at this local company seem so straightforward and honest, I absolutely trust that my dollar will also make it to this important local charity.

I had another chance to donate today in the Target parking lot, but I did not take it. One of those people with the "ran out of gas" story approached me.  They were coming home from Jewish hospital, his aunt had suffered a "diabetes attack," and they needed to get back to Bethel.  These sort of liars/beggars always make me nervous.  They seem to get too close whenever they approach, and while this young man was nothing but polite, he was also jittery and jumpy. I have no doubt that he really needed money for drugs or alcohol, and sometimes I wonder why people in his position don't just try to be honest instead. At the very least, he could come up with a different scam. The car-out-of-gas scam seems horribly hackneyed.

Day 255: Khaki pants

I stopped by St. Vincent de Paul today to drop off a pair of khaki pants that were a little too large for me. The pants were in great shape, but they never had the ability to make me look great. In fact, I felt dumpy in them so off they went. I made the out of the way trip to St. Vincent de Paul (instead of just shoving the pants in one of the ubiquitous collection bins around town) because I was having those feelings again about demanding a nice home for my cast-off goods.  It's silly, but sometimes I just want to ensure that my clothes (or other items) are actually going to disadvantaged people. I feel that way with St. Vincent de Paul.

Day 254: $1 to School Gardens

I stopped by Whole Foods quickly today in order to look for their strawberry habenero salsa. No such luck; I had to settle for pico de gallo.  I was in a rush trying to get back home to watch the first Cincinnati Bengals game of the season, and saw that Whole Foods is still advertising their school garden program.  Although I'm feeling a little strapped lately, the convenience of donating one dollar on my bill outweighed the pragmatism of finding a cost-free way to donate today. Alas, I just "threw money at it" today.  Now, if the Bengals will win this game, I will be happy.

Day 253: Black jeans

I have nothing against black jeans (like my sister has against white jean jackets); however, this particular pair was never very flattering. The fact is, I purchased these black jeans (and probably a few pairs before this pair) because as a teacher these look semi-professional.  They say, "Yes, I am wearing jeans to work," but also, "regardless of these jeans, I can still be considered professional." Where I work, teachers have decided that it is always ok to wear jeans to work on Fridays (preferably with spirit wear on top, but this is not a requirement). Black or brown jeans, however, could be worn any day of the week.  I still like my brown jeans, and they are staying in my drawer.

Day 252: $1 to multiple sclerosis

I feel that it's getting more difficult to find the time to make a new and original donation each day. For today, for example, my sister made my donation for me. She deposited a dollar in the Kroger collection box for multiple sclerosis on my behalf. That's fine, it counts, it's just not really from the heart. Was that a requirement of my project anyway? Am I asking too much of myself to make sure that my donations are meaningful?

Day 251: $1 to Share the Bread

So much for my pledge for the week of only giving away items that I already own.  Today I wimped out on that and stuffed a dollar bill into the plastic collection box at Panera. This donation is getting old, but Panera coffee is still one of my favorites, and I deserve it at least a few times a week.  I will have to add up these share-the-bread dollars at the end of 2011.

Day 250: White jean jacket

I'll have to return to this post to add more detail later, but the gist of it is this:  I actually owned a white jean jacket, it still fit, my sister told me it was hideously out of style, I thought about using a bucket of dye to change the color (after watching an episode of Project Runway), I realized that I don't really do that, and I gave the thing away.  I sort of regret it still.

Day 249: $1 to Autism

I was at a different Kroger than usual today (buying lettuce and blueberries for dinner and dessert) and looked to see that their collection box was supporting Autism.  Since I gave to MS yesterday, I thought that donating to Autism would be just as easy and just as valuable today. For the remainder of the week, however, I am going to try to go back to donating goods instead of cash.

Day 248: 50 cents to MS

I dropped fifty cents into the box at Kroger today that was collecting money for funds researching multiple sclerosis. These boxes are plastic, are definitely for change (as opposed to folding bills) and are screwed into the counters.  I'm not sure what that says about Kroger, employees, customers, or humanity in general.

Day 247: Blue Terrasoles shoes

In the past year and a half I think I purchased about four (maybe five) pair of Terrasoles which I thought were incredibly comfortable shoes at the time. In fact, they look so comfortable that I sort of want to try them out again.  Coinciding with my purchases of Terrasoles, however, was an increase in heel pain, so I decided to ditch most of my shoes.  These blue shoes were hardly worn--turns out they didn't match much after all.  I hope they find a good home and turn out to be as comfortable as I wanted them to be.

Day 246: $1 to school gardens

I didn't get too much of an opportunity to read about this program I was donating to, and I had hoped to find more information on the internet about it.  After realizing that I had been searching Fresh Market instead of Whole Foods, I found the site with all the info.  Anyway, while purchasing some salmon for a Caesar salad and some delicious strawberry habenero salsa at Whole Foods (not The Fresh Market), I noticed the opportunity to donate $1 or $5 to a program to help fund school gardens.  I chose to donate $1, and the cashier was overjoyed. She said that no one ever donated voluntarily, only if she asked them to.  I think she felt bad about her effusive display and wanted to make sure that I truly was intending to donate, not just asking about the program; she said that she didn't want to pressure me.  I assured her that I was genuinely intending to donate.  Had I wanted to, I could have written my name on a paper carrot and put it in a paper garden, but I didn't really see much point in that at the time.  Also, no one gave me a carrot.

Day 245: Magazines

Today's donation was an easy one; it sort of fell into my lap, just like this week's donation of old towels.  Danielle, a teacher in the English department, emailed to ask if I had any old magazines that she could use for a classroom project.  Of course, this made for a good opportunity to clean up a bit at home.  I usually recycle magazines, so they tend to hang around for quite awhile (longer than I would like anyway).  So, I gathered them up, placed them in a brown Whole Foods bag, and brought them to school.  

Day 244: can of soup and applesauce

I ended up donating the last can of soup that I purchased this summer when I went on a soup buying binge one day. I think it was turkey sausage gumbo or something like that.  I never ate any of the cans that I purchased.  The fact is, I LOVE soup, but I am such a snob that I can't really stomach canned soup.  I like homemade soup and soup from really good restaurants.  Nonetheless, I'm sure when fall and winter arrive I will find myself in the soup aisle of the grocery store saying something like, "This one might be good . . ." and throwing it in the cart.  The individual containers of applesauce I gave to the Freestore Foodbank today were left over from when I had my wisdom teeth pulled.  Turns out, I much preferred ice cream at the time.