When I pulled into the grocery store parking lot today, I drove by a homeless women sitting on the curb – a too common sight. She had some donated bags of groceries at her side, so there was some hopefulness in that.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a kitten and when I looked back in my side-view mirror, the kitten was jumping up playfully to catch the woman’s attention. Anyone who has a pet cat or dog knows their unconditional love. I was glad that kitten and neighbor had each other’s company and backs.
I’m no stranger to food drives, having stood in front of supermarkets on many occasions over the past 25 years to collect groceries for nearby food pantries. At MagazineLiteracy.org, we’d like to explore the same idea to harvest magazines – gleaned by shoppers from the newsstand and dropped in collection bins to feed children and families hungry to read.
That morning I bought some organic Newman’s Own cat food and a toy for the kitten. I stopped by the newsstand to find a Cat Fancy magazine, which was not available, and I purchased a copy of People magazine. When I delivered the food and the toy for the kitten, the woman was very pleased. When I gave her the People magazine, she was pleasantly surprised.
That grocery store sold some extra cat food and an extra magazine that day. Giving the magazine gift lifted the spirits of two neighbors – hers and mine.
Tell us your stories about changing lives of children and families in your community – one favorite magazine at a time.