We take in donations of all kinds here; clothing, furniture, whatever. Everything we get, we give back to the community for free. We never charge for anything.”Rachel Bryant
CULLMAN – Local nonprofit Karma in Cullman held their monthly canned food yard sale over the weekend, where shoppers were encouraged to either bring 10 nonperishable food items or make a $5 donation. Lots of people came out and found great deals despite the hot weather and periodic rain showers.
“Karma in Cullman is an organization that tries to help the community any way we can,” said Rachel Bryant, Karma in Cullman’s founder. “We do a lot of different projects and programs; this is our canned food yard sale drive. What that is, is we invite the community to come in and bring 10 nonperishable food items and we will give them a 13-gallon bag and they can fill it up with whatever is out here. It helps us replenish our food pantry and it lets them get whatever they need. Plus, it helps us rotate some stuff out.
“It’s important because we don’t get a lot of sponsorships so our food pantry gets hit pretty hard, but we don’t get to replenish it, so this is a great way to do that, which is why we do this once a month,” she smiled. “We take in donations of all kinds here; clothing, furniture, whatever. Everything we get, we give back to the community for free. We never charge for anything.”
Karma in Cullman is more than just a food pantry; they provide needy families with lots of extra items as well. For example, on Aug. 6 they were able to help 200 children get ready to go back to school. Each child received five sets of clothes, a pair of shoes, a backpack and school supplies.
“We are going to start working on our Christmas here pretty soon,” Bryant added. “We will start taking donations of new and gently used toys, and clothing as well. Most of our Christmas toys come to us gently used. We kind of prefer it that way, mainly because they can’t be returned.
“We will start our sign-up for that the first of November. We do ask that our families donate a little bit of their time in return. Nothing major, we don’t expect them to do things that they are not physically able to do or anything like that. It is just a way to see all the work that goes into doing something like that.”
The canned food yard sale was another success and lots of people swapped their nonperishable food items for some great bargains. If you weren’t able to make it this month, they will be doing it again next month. If you would like to donate your time, some money or some food, you can do that any time, just contact Bryant and she can let you know what to do.
If you are donating food items, here’s a list of things they would love to receive: spaghetti noodles and sauce, beans, macaroni and cheese, soups, peanut butter, chili, ramen noodles, flour, sugar, tea bags and anything that they can give to a family that the family can make a meal with. Please make sure the food is in date, they cannot give out-of-date food to anyone, so please check the dates.
For more information or if you would like to make a donation, you can contact Bryant at 256-735-3942 or email her at karmaincullman@gmail.com. Karma in Cullman is located at 785 Alabama Highway 157. You can also keep up with all the latest happenings by following them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/karmaincullman.
Related: http://cullmansense.com/articles/2016/07/09/local-woman-partners-area-restaurants-hopes-feeding-area-s-hungry
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