Free Breaks w/ donation of bag of food!

"In an effort to give back to our community, Signal Garage of West St. Paul started a program five years ago we call “Free Food for Brakes”. Every summer we collect food and school supplies for two local agencies: “Neighbors” in South St. Paul and “Neighborhood House” in Saint Paul. Our customers bring in a full bag of non-perishable food to donate and Signal Garage replaces their brake pads or shoes for free. Really!"

For more information about this wonderful program, go HERE.  Thanks Bernice for posting it on MCA's Facebook page!

Free Solo 1 Item Pizza from Davanni's w/ food donation ~July 27th

Save the date! Tuesday, July 27 from 4 PM - close Davanni's will be having their food shelf donation drive for the Emergency Foodshelf Network (EFN) with a special offer for their facebook fans!

The rules: From 4 PM - close bring in a non-perishable food item along with the coupon in exchange for a free solo 1-item pizza (traditional or thin) OR $4.85 off your total order. Be sure to check out the list of suggested food items pictured on their facebook page HERE. One coupon, per person, per order and only good on eat-in or take-out. Sorry, not valid on delivery. We encourage you to bring in multiple food items, but only one offer will be given.

Donating to organizations

I want to share something with you  that a reader emailed to me.

"Since I started stockpiling items, I have been getting items for close to free.  I have noticed how bulky and large our cupboards are starting to get, especially since my fiancée and I have no children. I finally started asking around to see if my church or food shelves would take donations for shampoos, body washes and etc.

One food shelf (near me in Forest Lake) said that this is actually what they need more of, since they mostly get food. They also mentioned that the travel sizes work best since they can help more people that way. I myself struggle with this, since there are so many coupons for items I don't necessarily need, especially these travel size items when I can get the larger sized items for almost free. But know that I know this, I am trying to put more aside for charity. I was just wondering if you could share this with some of your readers and maybe mention some food shelves that are in need of donation". 

I totally agree that food shelves need more than just food.  Last year alone, I donated more than 400 non food items to local charities around me.

Each year, my son's school hosts a "Stuff a Truck" food drive.  Each year we donated and the donations of items kept growing.  One year we brought in 550 items, yes we counted, as the school was having a contest!  I would say that 150 of those items were shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, etc.  I wanted to donate women's supplies, but didn't think that the elementary kids would understand those.  LOL

So, if you can get something for free and you can not use it or give it away to a family or friend, please consider donating it.  Ask at your church if they have a program to help out families in your church.  CEAP is another great place to donate (they take clothing also).  If you need help to find a place to donate, please post in the comment section.