I’ve found since I started prepping that there are a couple of ways I can really easily combine my prepping with my urge to help others. At first glance, it seems a bit counter-intuitive. Prepping is all about taking care of your own needs, not necessarily the needs of others. That aspect of the prepping community actually bothers me a little bit. I can’t help but think that communities will (in large part) sink or swim together. I’m one that would rather set up a soup pot in my lawn and damn the opsec rather than watch my neighbors go hungry.
Right now, a soup pot in my lawn isn’t the best way to help people who are hungry in my community, so I donate food to the local food banks. I do this in two ways. One, I time my annual culling of can goods to coincide with the food drive my employer sponsors every November. I know I won’t get through 12 cans of corn that have use by dates of Jan 2014, but I bet the food bank can get them out to 12 families that could use them.
I should interject here of course, that use by dates aren’t an expiration, and you can safely eat such things. The Food Bank of Iowa has a list of Food Shelf Extended Dates, listing exactly which “expired” foods, including canned items, it accepts. This same list might also help you decide which foods you feel comfortable keeping and using yourself.
Back to my original premise though, the second way I donate food is with with the Plant a Row for the Hungry program. I plant extra veggies in my garden, and encourage those in the community garden or neighbor gardens to do the same. Then we donate the extras to the food pantry.
I’m growing the veggies anyway, so why not? Same for the canned goods, sure I should use them all up ideally, but I don’t stress about that so much now because I know I can donate them and still feel good about it.
What about you? How do you combine your prepping with charity? Or are you more of a take care of Numero Uno, opsec 100%, damn the neighbors?
Sound off in the comments!
– Calamity Jane
6 comments
Merry Christmas to All.
CJ, your heart is in the right place.
I need to go through my canned supplies. Thanks for the reminder.
I plan on helping others, as I do now, but where to draw the line is everyone’s question. I just don’t know. The disaster scenario makes up most of my decisions. I guess my best plan would be to help those around me to help themselves, without giving away all the stuff that I have worked so hard to acquire. After supplying my group, family and close friends, generosity will be curtailed. After a WCS leaders will be what is needed the most. Have a plan to organize your neighborhood, keep people busy with needed tasks, keep everyone’s mind looking forward and not dwelling on what has just happened.
Reminds me of the “stone soup” story. A man was stirring water in large cauldron over a fire on the village square during a terrible famine. The cauldron contained only a stone in the water.A neighbor came by to ask what was cooking in the pot. “Stone soup”, he replied. The neighbor remember an old shriveled potato he had and volunteered to add it to the “soup” if he could have a cup when it was finished. Soon another neighbor inquired, then rushed off to find two small turnips she had stashed for her family; next a carrot, then another potato. One neighbor remember a small piece of meat he had left and added it to the soup. Another brought a small handful of salt. As each family in the village added their own little bit, soon there was a large cauldron of nourishing food for the entire village; all because one man started with water and a stone.
I fully intend to share what I have when the balloon goes up so that’s not really an issue. As for today. I have helped to sort out donated food at my church in the past. We do a canned food drive and then box up and deliver the bounty to needy families in the area. Many people are happy to donate but PLEASE do not donate food that is past it’s “use by date”. Yes, as Calamity stated, the contents are most likely fine but, we can’t take any risk in passing that food on (thanks to the few litigation happy folks out there). Donate your “close to date” food but, put that box of Hamburger Helper that expired in 2003 in the garbage (yes, that actually happened).
also, it’s not much of a “good deed” if a family gets sick from the food you donated. free food is expensive if it costs a trip to the hospital.
if you wouldn’t feed it to your little niece & nephew in front of your in-laws, don’t donate it. just consider it a cheap lesson on what not to buy on sale!
CJ – I love your take on this and it’s a good reminder that we don’t need to be so hasty when tossing out “use by” date goods. I would be careful about which products I donated that were passed this date, but some of these use by dates are purely precautionary and can lead to excess waste of good food items. Donating them is a great idea.