Here at the Weekly View, we continue our commitment to helping our community by bringing you news and entertainment on our pages (and our Web site) every week. Going into our 8th (!!!) year of independent, local community newspaper ownership, the three of us (me, Paula, and Judy) and office manager Lola the Cat, are humbled every day by the positive comments from our readers and advertisers alike.
Last year, we expanded our vision for helping the community by establishing the Lincolns Project. We’ve asked our readers (and advertisers) to consider putting a $5 bill aside every week to purchase nonperishable food and hygiene items to help stock local pantries and community food boxes. That Lincoln spent on food for hungry seniors, homeless, and down-on-their-luck families can be dropped off here at our office for distribution, or taken to Gaia Works at the Magic Candle, 203 S. Audubon Rd., or dropped off at the community food box at 17th and Gladstone in the Otterbein neighborhood. Or, you may have a church pantry, food boxes, or shelter where you can donate goods. Every little bit helps.
January is a tough month for many: the Christmas credit card bills come due, seasonal work dries up, and it gets more expensive to heat your home. It is even tougher for the poor in our community, particularly seniors who live on fixed incomes (they received only .3% cost-of-living increase in 2017, or about $5 a month).
One thing I’ve done for the past few months is cut coupons and get coupons online specifically for items pantries can use all the time. These include canned soups and stews, canned meats and other proteins, crackers, canned fruit, pasta, and peanut butter. I visit www.coupons.com, or www.coolsavings.com, and go to manufacturer’s Web sites to see if they offer coupons. There are also apps for your smart phone that offer coupons for specific stores. I keep these coupons in a special envelope and take these with me whenever I hit the grocery store. Paula, the Queen of the Frugal, can really stretch the bucks until they scream for mercy!
As we start the New Year, another resolution that would be worth adding to our list is to commit to helping our neighbors by giving them a hand up.