I also vote for the pillbox donut hat.
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Weāre getting $2400 and 100% is going to giving. We both have secure (and lucrative) jobs, Mr Darling just started working at the beginning of March after about a year off, plus my grandfather is doing the āgive out the inheritance early to avoid taxesā thing, so we weirdly have the most money weāve ever had during a world wide pandemic and economic collapse.
Heās not sure where itās going yet: heās checking with friends and family that are teachers to see if they could use help with anything, and will probably fund a bunch of Patreons and twitch streams. Iām going to give some to a food charity my BFFs mom started, some to direct giving, some TBD. Although Iām starting to convince myself that maybe local chocolate and booze count as charity.
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I like the big donut head piece.
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Update: I bought the books. Now all I need is some hammocking weather.
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Iām going to buy things to make my home nicer and more comfortable: a fancy vacuum cleaner, shelves and baskets to help with storage/organization, art from small businesses/local artists.
I will also probably buy some fun clothing.
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oh my god DOUGHNUT HEADBANDS might need to go on my list
plz provide link
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No stimulus checks for us, but I donāt mind. I am, however, starting back up a local thing where I go to the restaurant supply store and buy things at their much lower prices, and get those to families that canāt afford the upfront cost of shopping in bulk.
Iāll be doing contactless drop-off and taking payment digitally, most of the folks are used to venmo etc and used that before anyway.
So, if I were getting stimulus checks, Iād use it towards expanding the program past what I can do as an individual.
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I like the one in your first post best.
Not in any way to discourage helping, but giving or offering help to the food bank might be more effective at achieving the aim of food support for folks - they get their supplies in very higher quantities and have the systems set up for distribution and large warehouses. Many food banks in the us right now are about 2 weeks from having to start buying food rather than get it donated, since their typical supply chain (restaurant and grocery stores) have complete changed.
But also it sounds like a cool and established thing and we have so many ways folks need to help right now so do what makes the most sense for you!
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I dunno, I think bruteās plan covers folks who either donāt need or wouldnāt use a food shelf but could greatly benefit from access to bulk supply. And being a separate supply chain from food shelves he wouldnāt be in competition or taking away from what food shelves are doing in his community.
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Itās aimed at people like my parents, who are too proud to ātake charityā and will go hungry (and let their kids go hungry) rather than show up at a place and ask for a help. (Weāre not poor. We arenāt free loaders. etc)
But get the price down to a manageable level and theyāll go for it, all while keeping their sense of self reliance and self respect. Which is ridiculous, but when youāre dealing with the rural poor, things can look different.
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Makes perfect sense! Thatās super cool, and innovative way to work with rather than against that self-sufficiency pride.
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I guess it would have made sense to include this in the previous post, but I absolutely agree that supporting food banks is generally the right way to go with it. I just tend to have a āwhere are the gapsā mentality and go for those, and stay away from established things.
I deeply appreciate your reminder that those establishments need help right now and they are set up to do a whole lot of good for a whole lot of people.
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Just out of curiosity, how do you find the people to share this food with?
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Sometimes itās people I meet foraging in the woods. Sometimes itās people my wife knows from the area who lost their jobs when funding for environmental research was cut. A few are from contacts Iām made in grey area businesses. Then those people talk to their friends who need help. And those people talk. Once it starts, it grows so fast that I canāt keep up with it by myself. I was interested in getting more official with it, but there were a few obstacles that I havenāt been able to get past just yet.
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I know these people. They are my neighbors and my students (which is why student loan burden isnāt much of a problem for our graduates but working so many hours you never graduate is a real issue). Hell, I married one- he refused to let the military discharge people calculate his percent disability on separation because he could work (now the military-caused respiratory complications are our main COVID worry for him).
There is no food bank other than the one at the senior center in my area. Itās okay to need help once youāve worked for a lifetime, but not otherwise.
Youāre doing a good thing.
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Powellās order is done. I had a moral conflict for a while when adding one book- a Mary Oliver book that I could get for $11 through amazon, or $28 through Powellās. I angsted, debated not getting it at all, etc, but my husband pushed me to just buy it local. So that order is done, $80 of various books coming our way. (I also made a spreadsheet of Latteās books at my moms request and added a āwish listā column)
Also just put a $750 deposit on a whole cow from a local farm, everyone in my family will do 1/4 of it. Coordinating this delighted me because it means my parents are buying much nicer/more ethically raised meat than they normally would. Hoping I can make this a Thing and get them to buy good meat when we donāt have game. Ironically SirB and I are saving money on it, since buying a whole is less $/lb than doing 1/4s or 1/2s.
Put together an Etsy wish list of boujie baby toys/gear/etc.
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I always feel bad doing this but my mom is dying to buy Bobbin things since she didnāt get to do anything for her for Easter and she hasnāt seen her for a while. And my mom loves to be extra so Iām thinking Iāll send her a link to some foam gymnastics pad things since the kid has shown a desire to throw herself around on things as of late.
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Going into savings for now, all of it earmarked for our kitchen remodel.
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Probably mortgage PITI, since my pay this period will only cover health insurance and about $20 deposited.
I keep a monthās buffer in my checking account but thatās a big enough hit I need to build it back up fast.
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