Grocery Shopping for a Cause

I complain a fair amount about grocery shopping. Generally speaking, it's not my favorite activity -- it always takes longer and costs more than I expect. Adding kids to the mix doesn't help any -- between Pippi tossing her shoes overboard when I'm not looking or trying to wiggle out of the cart and Junius knocking things off the shelf and asking for every product featuring a Toy Story character, it's not a peaceful trip. Top that off with a complicated new two-story Harris Teeter and I'm about ready to stop shopping altogether.

But even as I'm complaining, I realize how fortunate I am to be able to buy groceries every week for my family. Thanks to suggestions from friends, we decided to recognize our good fortune by hosting a mini food drive for the Kids Summer Stock program at the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. The program provides summertime food for students who receive free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch during the school year -- for the thousands of students who qualify for those school meals, no school means no meals.

For our recent neighborhood Third Friday Happy Hour, we simply asked friends to bring some items on the most-needed list -- we collected all the food at our house and delivered it the following week. And with less time and effort than it takes me to find my way through the grocery store, we were able to deliver 50 pounds of food to the Food Bank.

Whether you love or hate grocery shopping -- or even if you're lucky enough not to have to do it -- I encourage you to make time for a mini food drive in your neighborhood, office, church or other group. It's easy to do, but it can make a world of difference for a family in need.

The Kids Summer Stock food drive is a great program, but I do still like to complain. Check out my Open Letter to Harris Teeter at North Hills East over at Triangle Mamas. And if anyone from Harris Teeter is reading this, please send more coupons -- I used my last $20 coupon yesterday.