Day 365: LAST DAY! $20 to Donors Choose Project

And so I end my year of giving the same way I began it, with a donation to a teacher on Donors Choose.  This time, I chose a project about art and Transcendentalism.  When I taught American literature, I loved reading Transcendentalism with students, so I thought the donation was appropriate for me.

It's hard to believe that my little experiment is over.  I'm relieved and a little forlorn at the same time. Since I can't quite give it up yet, I'm going to be posting a series of reflections about my year of donating--regrets, accomplishments, thoughts, and what not. So I will keep this blog going a little longer. Who knows, then I may start a new one.  Can't wait for 2012! Looking forward to it. 

Day 364: $1 to Vets and 50 cents to Shared Harvest

I've given the $10 bag of groceries to Shared Harvest (at Whole Foods) twice in the past month, so this time when they asked me if I was interested in adding on to my bill, I declined and instead added my change to the Shared Harvest collection box conveniently placed at the checkout. Did I feel cheaper? Yes. Do I think it's a bit intrusive of cashiers to ask for a $10 donation every time you shop? Yes. I get that most people have this idea that only people with money shop at Whole Foods, but in reality that just can't be true. People who like health food aren't all necessarily rich. They are not mutual conditions. I think Whole Foods would be much better off simply asking their customers if they would like to round up their bill. I would ALWAYS do that if asked.

I also had the opportunity to donate to a group called Veterans for Us (I think that was the name) that was set up outside of Sam's Club. They had a lot of gear they were selling--like hats, bumper stickers, flags, and t-shirts--and they also had a big plastic barrel (like the type you would find a ton of pretzels in). Since I was right next to them waiting for the rain to pass, it seemed like a convenient and appropriate time to make my daily donation. It seems as if a lot of other people were thinking like me because I saw three other donations made, and I noticed that the almost overflowing pretzel barrel had more than just singles floating around. It definitely had at least one $20 bill.

Day 363: Soup

Today was Green Bean Delivery day (thank goodness for fresh, organic produce in the winter). I left two different types of soup in my bin for the constant food drive. I left a huge can of Campbell's Sirloin Burger soup. I have no idea why that was ever purchased (iron deficiency?). Then I also donated a bagged soup mix made by Bear Creek.  It was chicken noodle, which all in all I'm sure is good--as most Bear Creek soup mixes are--but again not my favorite soup. I'm sure someone else likes both.

Day 362: Books to Africa

This is one of those donations that at its core is just plain selfish. Nonetheless, it counts. It really does. Today I purchased an out of print t-shirt for myself. Every time you purchase from this organization they donate books to Africa which is just plain good. This is my second purchase from Out of Print. The first time, I bought the Sun Also Rises t-shirt; this time I went for the more girly Pride and Prejudice shirt. I can't wait to get it!

Day 361: 4 books to Better World Books

I ran across this idea on Twitter today. Apparently a company called Better World Books will accept your donated books. They then re-sell, donate, or recycle the books.  You go to their website, print out a postage-free mailing label and affix it to your own box (something I have plenty of lingering around my house after Christmas). I stuffed four books into a box that previously held an Orgreenic saute pan. They fit perfectly. Now all I have to do is drop the package at the post office.  I'm sure that I will continue this donation outlet in the new year. It just seems so practical.  Better World Books even sets off the carbon emissions of the whole process.  How?  Well, I have no idea, but it sounds great.

Day 360: Sweater

I received two sweaters for Christmas, one for my birthday, and recently purchased a fourth sweater. I haven't been following my rule of one-for-one (that is, donating an item of clothing every time I acquire a new one) so I thought that I could at least do a little here. I choose a cream colored cable-knit sweater that is in pretty good condition to donate because I must have five white/cream sweaters at this point. There is nothing wrong with the sweater I'm donating except that it's one of those piece of clothing that attracts static electricity. I have several like that, so out it goes. Someone else can enjoy its warmth and electric charge.

Day 359: Christmas! $10 shared harvest, $10 tip for haircut, $30 tips to various helpers, gifts

Well, I knew that I wouldn't be heading out today with the opportunity to donate money or goods anywhere. Also, I have no ability to donate online today, so I saved up some of my giving for earlier this week for today, Christmas day. In addition to normal gift giving, I donated $10 to Shared Harvest at Whole Foods. This is enough money for a bag of food. I also gave my wooden nickel (from bringing my own bag) to Granny's Garden School.  I did that the last time I went to Whole Foods as well.

One of the best gifts this season, however, was not even mine. My sister decided to donate her long hair to locks of love. She had it cut at Great Clips because they will send the hair donation in for you. She researched online prior to getting her hair chopped and she knew just how to braid the hair for cutting and giving. The actual haircut was then free, so I paid the tip for my sister ($10). That was yesterday--an exciting day for sure. I was more nervous about the hair chopping than she was. She really has no attachment to short or long hair. Within the next few days, she's getting it colored as well. She looks completely different.

Finally, I wanted to note that I did give $10 Amazon cards to the mail carrier, the trash collector, and the green bean delivery driver this week. I'm sure their are more people like this I should consider during the holiday season. I just need to remember to do so.

I can't believe that my year of giving is coming to a close. It was about this time last year that the idea first popped into my head. I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep up with it, but now it's winding down. There are only six days left!  Oh my!

Day 358: $2.11 to the Salvation Army Red Kettle

This was probably the last opportunity to donate to the Salvation Army's red kettle, so I took the opportunity. I read an article today about people putting old wedding rings in the red kettle. I don;t have expensive jewelry or old coins worth a lot of money, so I gave a dollar bill and all of the change I could find in my purse.

Day 357: 50 brown bags to food pantry (and 140 pair of gloves)

Before I dropped off the 140+ pair of new gloves and mittens collected by the MHS writing center at the Milford Miami Ministries location, I checked out their website. I noticed that the food pantry portion of MMM was requesting bags (any type) that could be used to aid their distribution. Well over a year ago I purchased a number of plain brown grocery sacks that I use around the house for recycling bags. This lets me not worry so much about what type of bag I'm getting at the grocery store. By having my own stack of recyclable bags, I am actually recycling more (even though that logic seems a little warped). I always get around to recycling the plastic bags that accumulate as well. I took about 50 of these bags out of the box I store them in and brought them with me to the MMM center. The people there were nice, grateful, and a bit rushed because of the holidays. I've been donating a lot to MMM lately, and now that I've seen their operation, I may do more.

Day 356: 2 cans of food to Freestore Foodbank via Green Bean

Today is the last day for Green Bean Delivery before Christmas. Some wonderful locally made rolls (organic) are coming as well as lots of good produce including my latest favorite, Organic Girl SuperGreens. I've never seen these in a local store, but I love using this lettuce in salads. It's triple-washed (time-saver) and has a variety of really nutrition-packed greens. Anyway, I left two cans of food in my Green Bean bin--chili beans and chickpeas--and Green BEan will make sure that the cans make it to the Freestore Foodbank. I also left a gift card from Amazon for the delivery driver.  Feels good to make people happy.

Day 355: 50 cents to Milford Miami Ministires

Milford Miami Ministries is the organization I really need to contact today to see where I can drop off my supply of gloves.  But on a related note, I had the oil changed in my car today at a local shop in Milford. I knew they would have the jar out for Milford Miami Ministries, so I gave my change (50 cents) to the jar. I'm having to pay for everything in cash these days (debit card hijacked by those horrible people who spend all day punching in numbers on a computer to try to steal the money of hard-working, honest people). This is just a minor inconvenience this time, although I have to say that right before Christmas is not exactly the time you want to only have cash available to you.

Day 354: $1 to Freestore Foodbank

My internet connection is incredibly slow today, reminding me of the old days of dial-up. Nonetheless, I am behind on my blogging (but not on my giving) and I'd like to catch up. Although I donated 36 pairs of used gloves to St. Vincent De Paul today, these were collected from students and teachers at school so I am not counting them as part of my daily donations. I just did the legwork. I still have legwork to do with the 140+ pair of new gloves and mittens. What I did manage to do today was donate $1 to the Freestore Foodbank at Kroger. Easy as pie.

Day 353: 50 cents to Ronald McDonald and a folder

Today was pretty random as far as donating goes. I started off the day purchasing a Diet Coke at McDonald's instead of my usual coffee. This allowed me to donate the change (which may have been a little less or a little more than 50 cents to the Ronald McDonald collection bin.  Later in the day, a student who I do not know at all asked me if I had a folder that I could give her.  Although I did not have a two-pocket folder--the kind students are used to--I did have a file folder with pretty design on it. It would have been very easy to tell this student that I didn't have anything for her (especially since I had to leave my monitoring position in te lab to go to my classroom to hunt for it) but I knew that this was a perfect opportunity to complete the day.

Day 352: $1 to firefighters

I decided to eat lunch at Firehouse Subs because I saw an advertisement about their beverage machine which can mix an enormous number of syrups and flavors with your favorite drink.  Lucky for me, I also noted that this establishment allows you to round up your bill with the proceeds going to firehouses throughout the country. Now, when I inquired about rounding up my bill at the cash register, the young woman working had no idea what I was talking about and acted extremely confused. There was, however, another option--a plastic collection box for change and dollar bills. So I took advantage of that and shoved a dollar in. My meal was pretty good. (The bread was definitely better than Subway's, and the rest of the workers seemed friendly.) My raspberry Diet Coke was almost undrinkable.  So much syrup. I did notice a table tent, though, that detailed all of the philanthropic endeavors of Firehouse Subs related to the support of firefighters and fire stations across the country. My experience was pleasant overall. I will go back, I'm sure, at some point.  Maybe I'll even purchase one of their used pickle buckets to help raise money.

Day 351: Two cans of green beans

As I was walking into Kroger's I noticed that they have a barrel in the lobby for collecting non-perishable food items. It was easy enough, then, to pick up two cans of green beans while shopping and deposit them in the barrel on the way out the door.  A number of other people (or perhaps Kroger employees) had already done the same thing. In fact, the barrel was almost full. My two cans of green beans cost a little over $1. If I go back to Kroger in the near future, I would like to do this again.

Day 350: Three pair of gloves

Today was the last day of our glove and mitten drive. We collected about 160 pair total. Not that many, but to be honest it's the thought that counts. I will have to contact Milford Miami Ministries and drop off the gloves sometime this weekend. Since it was the last day, I decided to add another three pair to the glove drive (easy enough to pick up at Meijers).

Day 349: $5 to needy family

We had yet another "jeans day" at school today. I absolutely do not mind donating to this needy family that has apparently had tragedy heaped upon them in the form of disease and financial devastation; however, I would really appreciate it if Milford High School could come up with something less banal than jeans day.  My God, I'll wear jeans any day that I want to. (Some teachers wear jeans every single day.) These are the same people who, I'm quite sure, didn't bother to donate anything today. Am I sounding cynical? So be it. At least I was forwarded a funny video about AYP and jeans day today, so that fit with the theme of the day.

Day 348: $1 to Share the Bread

It was easy to give to Share the Bread at Panera today, especially since Panera gave me free coffee today. I suppose I probably should have donated the full two dollars that I saved by receiving the free coffee, but at least I gave a dollar. Whenever I catch a break these days, like at Panera this morning, I definitely chalk it up to the positive karma I've been making this year.  Yet, I'm so superstitious that I don't even like to admit that.

Day 347: School supplies

The teaching professions class at school is running a giving tree of sorts. They are collecting school supplies for needy students (or the teachers of needy students). I was able to give four spiral notebooks that I had stored in my cabinet to my student Hope who is also in the teaching professions class. This time of year offers so many opportunities for donating to charity. I do wonder, however, if it's the best time o collect school supplies. Every time someone collects for this, I go to my cabinet. I will surely have to replenish soon.

Day 346: 55 cents to the Ronald McDonald House

I stopped at McDonalds on the way to school today and treated myself to a peppermint mocha (and a Diet Coke--I was thirsty). As I was getting the exact change to pay my bill, $2.07, I grabbed an extra 55 cents to throw in the Ronald McDonald collection box. I probably could have and should have donated a whole dollar instead; however, tossing money into the Ronald McDonald collection box is always so dicey that I wanted to make sure the money actually went in. A dollar bill might have floated off into neverland. The nonfat peppermint mocha was delicious.

Day 345: $1 to Freestore Foodbank

I again took advantage of Kroger's rip-off coupons at the cash register that allow you to donate a dollar to the Freestore Foodbank. I saw a television advertisement for this today as well.  I think it was a local weatherman pretending to buy groceries and then give the spiel about how donating this way make sure that all your donations are local. I suppose this attracts some people--helping local people in need--but to be honest I don't think it matters tremendously, as long as the organization in legitimate.

Day 344: Alarm clock radio

I gave an alarm clock radio to Goodwill today. This is the type of clock that projects the time onto the ceiling. This was a gift that I received several years ago, but I had never taken it out of the box. It seemed like the right time to give it away. (I hope it works.)

Day 343: $1 to the Freestore Foodbank

After a holiday party with colleagues, I stopped on the way home to make some small purchases at Kroger. Since I had not found a place to donate for the day, it was quite simple enough to rip off a $1 coupon, available at the checkout lane, scan it, and donate to the Freestore Foodbank. I wonder why the don't have those coupons available at the checkout counters throughout the year. It seems like any easy way to support one of the most trusted charities in Cincinnati. I also wonder if I will be continuing to donate as often or nearly as often when my Giving Year is up. It's drawing very close to the end, and I'm having mixed feelings. In one way, the daily obligation will be over (sort of like wrapping up a school year or a semester of classes), but in another way, I imagine myself forgetting to give as often.  We'll see.

Day 342: $1 to Milford Miami Ministries

I gave a dollar to a student who is not in any of my classes but who I know casually (Luke) for his collection jar. Again, this money goes to a local charity that was originally called the Mary Miller Fund but is now referred to as Milford Miami Ministries. This organization is tried and true. I hope that the students who I donate to will also donate to the glove and mitten drive that the writing center has organized.

Day 341: Don't Spill the Beans

This was a donation to the Giving Tree at school. Our local DECA group sets up the giving tree each year, and each year I donate a gift for a child.  The Don't Spill the Beans game was a cheaper item that I purchased at Walmart. I'm always happy to give to children for Christmas, but it is interesting to think about the motives and tactics of certain groups an individuals when they engage in charity.

Day 340: Candy

Today's donation was just more of a kindness. I purchased several bags of Christmas chocolates and mints to share at our English department meeting today. Everyone enjoys a small piece of chocolate after a long day at school (at least I think they do). This is the second time I've purchased candy in the past few weeks (holiday season and all) and I know that it is completely unnecessary. Still, I think small things count.

Day 339: Plastic Utensils

Susan, a colleague at work, sent an email the other day asking for donations of wrapped, plastic silverware for a soup kitchen where Susan's sister works. Just by checking in drawers at home, I was able to come up with a hodgepodge of twenty different sets from various take-out locations like Wendy's or the Chinese place. Obviously I could use these for myself every single day. After all, I'm a brown-bagger. But since I can also use unwrapped plastic utensils, I decided to purchase a pack of those for myself and donated the wrapped ones. I realize that had this request come last year via email, I would have found it so easy to ignore (even if I had good intentions). But this year when I see something like this in my email I get excited because it's a cheap but meaningful way to donate for the day. I do, however, feel like I'm becoming a bit more judgmental of those I see around me who are not so giving.

Day 338: 2 pair of gloves

Although I won't actually be donating these gloves until tomorrow, I did purchase two more pair of gloves today for our writing center glove drive at school. I was at Meijer's picking up milk, clementines, and a few other random items when I started wondering where I would be able to donate today. It seems fine that the actual donation comes tomorrow. After all, we aren't giving the whole bucket-load until December 16 anyway. I already have something else in line for Monday's giving as well.  I saw a local article online today about the coat drive that I donated to. They are giving away the coats now. The article quotes homeless people as being so grateful for the coats. It's hard to imagine.

Day 337: $1 to Save Our Sight

I think the organization I donated to today was called Save Our Sight (if not, something similar). When I was online renewing my vehicle registration today, one of the question fields asked whether or not I would like to add on a dollar to my bill to support this sight program. It seemed like a fortuitous opportunity, so in addition to the hundreds of dollars I seemed to spend today (hair, birthday and Christmas presents, groceries, lunch, online bill payments, and my car registration) I spent the extra dollar so that someone can get help with sight I suppose.  

Day 336: $1.11 to Milford Miami Ministries

I was able to again donate to the same charity that I've given to twice this week--Milford Miami Ministries. This time, I gave my dollar and a random eleven cents to my student Vanessa. I think this might be the last donation of this type, but I can't be sure. I have to say, it's sort of getting expensive to go to school these days. I wish I had more money so that I could help out all of my students.

Day 335: $1.25 to Milford Miami Ministries

I donated to the same charity that I gave to two days ago, but I helped out a different student this time. I gave money to my student Joe.  Tomorrow I'll probably give to Vanessa.  I would say thank goodness I don;t have that many more DECA students in class, but to be honest I'm happy for the easy opportunity and the quality charity that they are collecting for.

Day 334: Teaching Professions Donation

I'm not sure how much of the $13.50 I paid for some flower bulbs will go to help the teaching professions students, but I imagine it is close to half. The students are selling bulbs to raise money for a trip to a teacher conference (who knows what conference), and I was happy to help out my student Hope, who is a delight in class. It's funny to think that I could probably donate to students every single day.