Day 128: Craigslist Helps to GIVE
Photography by Karen SomersI never thought of the Craigslist as an inspiring place to find a “GIVE” but today I did. If you aren’t familiar with it take a look. It is an free online classified resource. I came across the Craigslist a number of years ago and I use it for everything. I sell items on it, I buy items in it, I even found my blog teacher on it! It has a dedicated site for each city and in many cases has specific areas within a large city.
Today I needed it for a very specific reason – to help a young Mother in need.
Day 128: Give 128
I got an urgent email from my friend Sally that runs an organization called Spectrum. I have posted about Sally a number of times and she gives me the opportunity to GIVE on a regular basis. I don’t have a lot of extra time to volunteer in a structured way that many organizations need as I have care for my son full time and run my own business. This is the perfect volunteer job for me which I can do any time with my son in tow.
The email I got from Sally this week was to help a new Mom that just gave birth to a little boy on the weekend. This Mom is just a child herself at the ripe old age of 17. I didn’t know what the circumstances were around this young girl’s life but I knew she had next to nothing for the baby and needed some support right away. A crib and cloths were requested. It was my call to action.
My first move was to send out an all points bulletin to my Mommy friends to see what they had that may help. The crib was my major road block as most of my friends are still using theirs. The Criagslist was calling my name. I thought I may be able to pick one up at a very good price to GIVE to her. Thanks to my Mother, who also started the search, came across a “free” crib in the “free” section of Craigslist.
I have discovered many people are happy to GIVE away what they don’t need if someone will just come and pick it up. She found a crib someone was finished with and I was on it. In one quick email I was over town to get a crib for this little guy.
I shared my story with Caroline, the women that had put the posting up for the crib, and she generously filled my car up with more than just the crib. Everything from the crib bedding to baby bottles, books, blankets and bibs. She handed over all the items she was going to donate to another cause.
Thank you Caroline, your generosity was over whelming.
One more quick trip and I was at the new Mothers door step delivering the items. She was very grateful and I think the best part was the first thing she said is she would in turn donate them again when she was finished with the items.
Keep the giving going! I will use Craigslist again to find the items I need to GIVE back. It’s the perfect combination of recycling giving to benefit someone else. .
Time Commitment: 2 hours in total for pickup and delivery
Cost: 0