Self-Sacrifice: 29 Year Old NJ Woman Uses Coupons To Feed Thousands

A 29 year old woman, Lauren Puryear of New Jersey, used coupons as a tool to bring thousands of meals to people in need at her local homeless shelter and has pledged to feed 30,000 people by the end of this year.

In 2012, Lauren started an organization called “For The Love of Others”, which aims to assist people “through providing opportunities to enable them to live a purposeful life,” according to the group’s own website.

Puryear has already delivered meals to thousands of people and has set a goal for her 30th birthday to help feed a total of 30,000 people. She told NJ.com her process, how she buys the items at the store, sometimes receiving items for free, with no cost at all. She also said she was a mental health clinician, but when she’s not working, examining patients mental health, she is doing another job, being a person that can brighten someones day or give hope, bringing meals to people on the east coast in New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Baltimore,  and many other homeless shelters.

“I started couponing for food items like spaghetti, meatballs, and I was (often) able to get the items for free or for little to no money. There are coupons in the Sunday paper, or online that you can print … so I collect as many as I can, match them to the store and that is how I am able to get the items for free,” Lauren Puryear said.

So far in 2016, Puryear has managed to deliver a total of 5,000 meals to others. “The joy of helping other people does not compare to any other accomplishment in my life,” she said.

In the midst of the doom and gloom, constant shootings, and bad news, it’s stories like this that give hope to humanity that need to be more frequently covered. Everyday people do selfless acts like this but those people don’t make the news for their efforts to make a change in their own local communities. I applaud Lauren’s organization for helping to feed 5,000 and pledging to feed 30,000 by the end of this year.

If we all practiced this type of kindness, when we could, to give a little bit to others when we can, we would be a greater humanity. Let’s remember we only got one planet and we are one human race, reach out and help out another fellow man or woman. The feeling you feel inside is beautiful knowing you helped another human being in need because you could do something. That person won’t forget you, you will forever be ingrained in that person’s mind. That’s exactly what’s needed sometimes, for someone to be there, to pick you back up when your at your lowest. If you can do that for another person, you will realize that life isn’t just about sex, money and drugs like entertainment echoes in our heads on the radio. Life is about being able to unite as a people for a common goal. It’s sad that sometimes the only way we unite is through a tragic hurricane or tornado, when everyday, there are people who are homeless and starving exactly like those victims of a major storm. Those people are the homeless living on the streets who don’t have anything, living under bridges, in parks, sleeping on the sidewalk or park bench.  Think about that…. and find a way to help.