Making donations is even better than finding cheap underwear

Yesterday we finally dropped off all of the food that we accumulated during the craziness of Vons' triple coupon days, along with some random toiletries and beverages we've bought recently. It came to more than a dozen grocery bags (!!!), including containers of milk and yogurt. It's funny, you wouldn't think it would be hard to find a charity to donate food to, but sometimes it is.

We usually donate a lot to the Downtown Womens' Center, located in downtown Los Angeles, but we don't have the time right now to drive over there. There is another shelter I like in Hollywood, run by the Los Angeles Youth Network, but we usually donate clothing and other non-edible items. I looked online and found several nearby food pantries, run by different organizations. They either didn't accept refrigerated foods or had such impossible drop-off hours that it was impossible for me to get there (I'm basically a 9 to 5er).

So we ended up donating to AIDS Project Los Angeles, that runs a program called Necessities of Life. They provide bags of groceries to low-income people and families living with HIV and AIDS. While I love this cause (I grew up in West Hollywood and watched one of the first large groups of AIDS victims pass), the primary reason we chose it was because they accepted donations until 6 pm during the week. That's all. It merely came down to their donation hours.

If you run a charity dependant on dropped off donations, please take note. If you have convenient hours, you will be guaranteed to receive more donations. People are more likely to do the right thing to help others if you make it was easy as possible for them.

That said, I love being able to make donations. I think going the extra mile in couponing is WELL worth it if it means having bags of groceries to donate to the needy.