Episode 21: Communities Work When We Do: Finding Support & Giving Wisely

Looking for real help you can find today, not someday? We dig into the safety net hiding in plain sight—211 for food, housing, and utilities; libraries that lend hotspots, rooms, tools, and more; and YMCA programs that turn community spirit into practical support. Along the way we unpack how food pantries work behind the scenes, why dignity matters in donations, and the seasonal gaps that appear once the holidays pass.

We also explore the people and systems that keep families steady under pressure: school homeless liaisons who help kids stay enrolled, winter shelter networks that activate in extreme cold, and crisis nurseries that meet the specific needs of infants and new parents. Healthcare is part of the story too. From preventive screenings and STI tests to birth control and telehealth, Planned Parenthood offers low-cost care when insurance falls short. And if you’re ready to volunteer, United Way’s global platform makes it simple to find opportunities by cause and location.

Giving smarter is a theme throughout. We talk about the unglamorous essentials pantries rarely receive—like toilet paper and menstrual products—the dignity of offering foster kids suitcases instead of trash bags, and how to vet nonprofits using CharityWatch and Give.org so your dollars land where they do the most good. The big takeaway: start with 211 and your library, ask local orgs what they need, and spread your support beyond the holiday rush. Communities work when we do.

If this helped, follow the show, share it with a friend, and drop a comment with your state and a local organization others should know about. Your tip might be the link someone needs.

Chapters

• 1:08 Why Local Resources Matter
• 1:53 Rethinking Homelessness and 211
• 4:48 How 211 Connects You Locally
• 8:01 Inside Food Pantries And Smart Donations
• 14:15 YMCA Angel Tree and Giving
• 18:49 Seasonal Giving and What Pantries Need
• 21:41 School Liaisons and Winter Shelters
• 26:10 Crisis Nursery and Baby Costs
• 31:29 Libraries As Community Hubs
• 38:19 Affordable Healthcare and Planned Parenthood
• 44:09 United Way, 211, and Caregiver Support
• 49:48 Foster Care Needs and Dignity

Transcript

Rachael: 0:34

Hey everyone, welcome to Girl Gang Podcast. My name's Rachael.

Sarah: 0:37

I'm Sarah.

Brandi: 0:37

And I'm Brandi, and we are your host for this episode.

Rachael: 0:40

So we're going to continue this theme about resources in your community because we've already talked about voting and how you can get signed up to vote. So we figured we'd continue the conversation on local resources you may not know about and resources that you should know about because it's super helpful. So I feel like I'm going to lean into my local library. So we have some good treats about libraries. And I am a member of my local YMCA. So that's what I'm going to kind of lean into. And the girls have some other organizations and different initiatives that they've been researching and want to talk about. So Kozy, what about you? What you've been looking at recently?

Sarah: 1:21

Yeah. Something that I know is pretty prevalent in the area that we live in is this idea of those in housing crisis or or homelessness. And I have really been learning a lot recently about that. The picture that we have in our heads of of homelessness and what that looks like. And I think a lot of us typically think it looks like, you know, a person with, you know, rugged clothes and, you know, on the street with a sign. And it's so often not the case that it's just that demographic. It it obviously i is in some points, but it's not the only thing. There are lots of different families and different um members of our community that are, you know, in this situation. And you know, just looking at the resources that those people would have, you know, children who might not be with their parents, you know, other family members who have accepted kids, you know, whatever the situation might be, injuries, accidents, deaths, you know, there's so many different scenarios that you could be in where you might just need a little help sometimes. So there are a lot of resources that communities do have. Um calling 211 for coordinated entry if you are in emergency situation and are needing, you know, shelter, housing resources.

Rachael: 2:43

For those of our listeners who don't know what 211 is, what is 211?

Sarah: 2:47

211 is your free nationwide phone number and website, um, 211.org, that connects you to local help for food, housing, utilities, child care, healthcare.

Brandi: 2:59

Interesting. I hadn't heard that until you you mentioned it.

Sarah: 3:02

Yeah, I mean, and I know we hear about a lot of different types of hotlines, um, but that was news to me too, to learn that there is one specifically for those who are in um um immediate need for utilities, food, housing, shelter, just a safe place to sleep at night.

Rachael: 3:17

Yeah, I didn't realize that it spanned so many items.

Sarah: 3:21

Yeah, they it's kind of like a human Google is what um I've looked at what people call it. Um for social services. Many people don't realize that you can call anytime. It's 24-7. You can get referrals specific to your zip code, um, to the county that you're in, to the area that you're in. Um usually they will have resources and connections to other local nonprofits for your specific needs, whether you are um a mother with a newborn or um your kids are in a specific school district. Um so I could just call 211 and ask, like, hey, I'm struggling with X. What can you recommend to me? And they'll give me information. Absolutely. To the best of their ability. That's pretty nice. Absolutely.

Rachael: 4:03

How does is every like does every city have their own 211 line or how does that work exactly?

Sarah: 4:11

I think it goes by counties or zip codes. Um so it's a universal number that you can still call. Yeah. Um they have their website, and I think that kind of works just like a a different hotline that connects you to your area based on the zip code. Gotcha. Interesting. Yeah. Very cool. Um besides that too, lots of food pantries and getting to see um what some of our local food pantries do for those in need. Um, I got recently I got to tour a food pantry in our area and got to see it's like a mini grocery store. And there are for the people who are eligible to utilize those resources, um it's calculated based on like a point system where you know certain ingredients, certain food meal um packages are put together worth point systems, so you can trade those in to get those resources like to um toiletries, um food. They had someone donate a lot of birthday cake kits, which I thought was really, really sweet. Oh, that is a good idea. Putting together, you know, um birthday cake sets for kids who might have a birthday coming up and so families don't have to choose between a meal or a birthday cake for their kids. Yeah. Which is kind of nice.

Brandi: 5:22

I usually um the the main food bank of our area, like the big one that supports uh a lot of the smaller ones, is right down the road from where I work. Um and in my previous company and at this company we've taken volunteer days through work and like because there's a lot of um don donations from like grocery stores or just large farms if they have excess or something. Yeah. So they'll get these giant um pallets, you know, those big cardboard, they're like five by five boxes or however large they are. And the one day we were there, it was full of potatoes.

Sarah: 6:03

Oh my goodness.

Brandi: 6:05

So you have you can't just have a like pilot of potatoes out on the the floor for families. So we spent several hours taking potatoes and putting them in smaller bags and parceling them out and everything. So there's like a back room where you can volunteer and everything and like help set up some of these packages and stuff. So it's really cool.

Rachael: 6:28

My job, yeah, my company this year, they implemented birthday day and volunteer day. So you can take one day off throughout the year and volunteer. Yeah.

Brandi: 6:39

All of the companies I've been with lately have had eight hours of paid volunteer time. Which is awesome. Yeah. Like everyone should do that. It's just you gotta find people like people actually have to use it and remember it's there. Yes, for sure. But when I've been doing it through work, luckily that's not the day that we had to take because it was a work-sponsored event.

Rachael: 6:59

Yeah, that's true. They started, so I go, I have a membership at my local YMCA, and they just started their food drive as well. And they do a food drive from November 1st through November 25th, and I walked in today and the whole container was full already. And then I walked to the back and was talking to somebody, and he said that one person alone came on Monday and dropped off more than what they had collected for the whole food drive last year. Wow. And so he's going to like in the past, they've just d uh partnered with like a local organization and donated it, donated it to that food pantry. And so he was like, Given everything that's going on right now, I think I'm just gonna start like making trips there all throughout the month, like not hold it until the end of November, but do it now and then just make sure you like keep track of like what's been donated so you guys can like give numbers later.

Brandi: 8:01

Like, yeah, yeah.

Rachael: 8:02

Yeah, they they take record, they like take note of everything because all of the money that the YMCA raises stays in-house, and all of that money goes towards financial assistance to families in need. Oh, okay. Um, which is something that I've learned a lot with with the YMCA right now, is um they do a they do something called Angel Tree, at least at the YMCA that I know what the angel tree is.

Brandi: 8:31

Yeah.

Rachael: 8:31

So um basically any family that is on financial assistance is a single um family, um, or you know, there's a couple of different requirements that they have, but basically you figure out what your eligibility is for if you would um fall into this financial assistance, and they mail out a letter, and the letter goes out and it says, Hey, you know, you're eligible to be part of this angel tree. Please list all of your kids' names and list like they get a little letter to Santa and they can say, like, what do I want? What do I need? Um, what would I love? And then they take that, they kind of go through the list, and then they put the gift on like a little angel and they hang that on a tree, and then anybody that comes into the YMCA, whether they're a member of a or not, can grab it and then buy that gift for that kid, and then they drop it back off at the YMCA, and the YMCA will wrap the gifts, they'll give it out to the families, and yeah. So that was pretty cool.

Brandi: 9:34

My previous company, uh, we were uh did a lot with one of the um elementary schools in the community because they in their district they had two women in family sh homeless shelters and another homeless shelter. So they had three, I think. Uh it was three sh homeless uh shelters in their district. Oh wow. Um, and so what we did is uh we picked the number of families that we wanted to quote unquote adopt for the organization and we had uh a ton of people work, like five, six hundred people. So we would always do like five to six families, and uh it was basically just like the angel tree. We would get a we would actually work with that school's guidance counselor though, because she had a list of families that were meeting that criteria and stuff. So we would work with her or she would reach out to the parents and get a list for them. And uh you know, the our our organization would come together and and get the list as close as possible. And it was always um interesting to see. So like obviously the kids want what kids want toys and crafts and dolls and Lego and and it was always kind of humbling to see what the parents asked for. It was always you know, uh pots and pans or laundry detergent or some dress pants so the mom can have something to wear to work. And you know, it was a lot of people that's not the fun fun toy, you know, like everyone likes to go get the kids what they want because you know it's around it's about them. You know, they want to open it and um so everyone, you know, you always kinda forget about the parents and that they don't they're not able to get nice stuff. So we always tried to make sure that the parents' lists also got fulfilled. That's nice. Um there was one year, I know this getting really specific, but this one kid he really wanted to learn how to play guitar. And so he had on his list a guitar and obviously that's an expensive instrument um and nobody was able to pay that much, or they wanted to at least spread that money out to more of the family or to different so this uh older gentleman, his son had played guitar and had his old acoustic up in the attic, and so they raised some money together to get it tuned and a case and some like beginner music books so that the kid could have like start learning to play guitar, and that was one of my favorite moments from it.

Rachael: 12:22

Um a new thing that they started last year was they'll get all of the gifts for Angel Tree, they'll wrap them and then they do a um pancakes and PJs event. Oh, and so they'll invite all the families. It's uh it's open to the public, actually, so anybody can come and the staff and volunteers will um make pancakes for the families, and then that's like the time where they give them like a black trash bag full of gifts, and they kind of like pass it off to the parents. They pass it off to the to the families at that point, and then you know they have their their gifts for Christmas, so that'll be exciting to kind of see how that event plays out this year.

Sarah: 13:04

Yeah. Yeah, I know I've done a lot of um like Thanksgiving food drive as well, uh, because you know it's the holiday season. Um we did that at the university that we worked for, like people could sign up. We worked with the local food pantry and they gave us provided us a a list um of those who were in need of the community that they were um aware of, and they could sign up for Thanksgiving meals. So we put I mean a couple hundred of those together every year. Yeah.

Rachael: 13:34

Um the university that we worked for, we did that, and then the boxing studio that I used to go to would also do that.

Brandi: 13:41

Yeah. And there's also a restaurant in this like down the road from me that does a huge thing. Where like they're known throughout like several counties that this is what they do, and they have this massive fleet of volunteers that deliver the meals to the families and everything. That's awesome.

Sarah: 14:00

That's always nice to do.

Brandi: 14:01

I know that eating. One thing though, um, when I was talking when I volunteered at the pantries and stuff, one thing they have said in the past is they get a ton of donations this time of year around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Come January, nothing. Yeah, so you gotta like spread it out a little bit. Yeah, so I always try to give them like if I donate, I usually try to do it in the quote unquote off season because they get just slammed right now. And I get it, they're gonna take anything they get, they're gonna be grateful, but it dries up like as soon as Christmas is done. They don't see like anything coming in, and that's when they're really challenged to provide for those families.

Sarah: 14:47

And one thing I didn't even you know think of until I toured into the pantry either was like the types of donations. I mean, I think canned goods is pretty universal. Canned goods are always if they have a can opener. If they have a can opener, you gotta get the pop-top ones. Box mac and cheese requires access for milk and butter. So there are some pantries that do, like the one that I had toured, does have the resources available to provide some of the produce and some um more perishable items. Yep. Um but one thing that I I mean I just didn't even really think to donate, I guess, was toilet paper. So toilet paper is something that they get donated the least. Yeah. Interesting.

Brandi: 15:28

And it's kind of a a requirement because you're not gonna have a bidet.

Sarah: 15:32

Right. And you know, like there are public restrooms and you know, campgrounds and and hotels and all those kind of things, but like that's just I don't know, it's kind of everybody needs money.

Brandi: 15:41

That's like a human I'm not saying it's a human need because there's millions of people in the world that don't use toilet paper and you can't afford it. But like that's like just a a decency like to have, you know, so anybody likes to c clean.

Sarah: 15:54

I don't I think that they say, you know, money is always, you know, the most usable. They can always get the most resources and supplies with just money financial donation or monetary donations. Um, but definitely don't be afraid to call either and ask if you're unsure about what to donate. Um because obviously anything helps. Um, but it's always nice to know, like, hey, are we you know low on feminine products?

Brandi: 16:18

You know, at this point, I'm sure they're always low enough.

Sarah: 16:21

Baby food, gluten-free food for those who you know have different um and see the thing with a lot of those is they're expensive.

Brandi: 16:29

Exactly. So people that are donating don't necessarily they want their money to go further. Like they're more qual quantity over quality sometimes.

Sarah: 16:38

But also we're humans and your stomach does not matter how much your food costs. Your stomach can't tolerate it, it can't tolerate it. Yeah, true. So it's it's um yeah, definitely lots of things. Some will, you know, take donations. They have um one family who will specifically donate beddings, and after the holidays, they will go to Walmart and buy all the leftover beddings to help provide kids who are either, you know, moving locations, if they're getting into a new apartment. Um, this has some of those kinds of needs as well, little things of furniture. Um and weren't you saying that every school has like a liaison? Yeah, that was something too. And I don't know if that's again like depends on your state or where you're from, but um I didn't realize that at least the school districts in our areas have homeless liaisons. Um for those kids who are in the school district who might be in the foster care system or um ex experiencing homelessness um or in some sort of housing crisis. Um which is great. So kind of what you were saying earlier, Brandy, it's just that liaison who helps connect with you know the representative of the school, helping the family, helping to find those connections, those resources to help do what's best for the kids and keep them in school and do what they can for I think it's a really um I think it's a really important position that I really didn't know existed.

Brandi: 17:58

Like I said, we've talked with like the guidance counselors before. Um, but just having someone to help the parents and like try to keep the kids in a school district, going to school, feeling comfortable having someone to go to and and talk about that kind of stuff and provide, like you said, the resources that they might not know existed. You know, because they they may have, you know, a home and they might be paying the bills and that's it. You know, but there's a lot there's a lot of extra costs in life other than utilities and absolutely, absolutely.

Sarah: 18:33

You know, we um one story from you know, uh our our community at least is you know, of mom who was working full-time and her kids were in school but the amount of money that she was making was very much making ends meet. And she would have to go pick her kids up from school and just park a car somewhere because she did not have the gas money to go and take them anywhere. They were choosing between gas money to get them to school and get to work and food for the night. Um which is just absolutely um crazy to me. So um thankful that local communities do have resources like that within school districts or district community as well, um, or nationally, you know, with the two-on-one um hotline as well, that we have something for those people who need that immediate help. The other thing too is um again, I also don't know if this is just our local community or other local communities, but emergency weather response teams. So this is like a community of churches, you know, um properties that have housing, you know, people who just have additional housing that they, you know, rent out, uh hotels, whatever the case may be. Or during the winter months of November to I think March it goes to. Um we potentially have different locations activated for if the weather gets to be below 20 degrees, it becomes an emergency shelter location. Um those obviously still still take funds to run um and allow the churches, organization, business, whatever the location might be, to run and house people during those those times. Um but it is crazy, it's they they only activate below 20 degrees and there's still so many people who have to survive during the winter months. But it's it is a resource, an emergency resource, which I thought was um very nice to have. I didn't know it was available.

Brandi: 20:36

Yeah, so it looks like at least in our area, um 340 emergency shelter beds and around 500 transitional housing beds um are part of this inclement weather program. And I did see you mentioned the 211, um, but you can also text shelter S-H-E-L-T-E-R, and your zip code to 43362 and FEMA can help you locate shelter.

Sarah: 21:10

Oh interesting.

Brandi: 21:10

But 211 that's if you like texting or there's a FEMA app, um, but the two one one actually gets you talking to someone, which some people prefer to do than automated systems or texting and and all of that.

Sarah: 21:24

Very true.

Brandi: 21:25

Interesting. Um and then you know, just kind of along those lines, a lot of places I know in the Midwest here, Missouri, Illinois, I think even Iowa, we have what we call the crisis nursery um for infants and moms and stuff, and they usually get a lot of diapers, formula, bottles, that kind of stuff that generally speaking food pantries don't the more specific needs for them.

Sarah: 21:50

Yeah. Yep. Prenatal care or not prenatal postnatal care.

Brandi: 21:53

Yep.

Sarah: 21:54

Yeah. All those kind of things.

Brandi: 21:55

So, you know, there's always speci there's obviously the generic I say generic, but overall organizations, but there's also a lot of specific ones that help um certain needs or demographics or things like that. So um, you know, not only do they have WIC, but they have these nursery organizations where you can go and because babies are expensive. They go through a lot of diapers, a lot of wipes, yeah, a lot of formula. If you can't breastfeed, you know, oh my sister breastfeeds my niece and uh sorry, formula feeds. And it is outrageous how much formula it is. Oh my gosh. It's I was just like, okay. Might be born from the tap if I had a kid.

Rachael: 22:42

I was like walking through the baby aisle a few days ago just because I was charging my car and like had nothing else to do. You know, I don't have anything to tell you all. I was just curious. But I was like, formula, it kind of looks like protein powder. Like I can get like 30 things out of a protein powder, but like how long would a thing of formula actually last?

Sarah: 23:05

Right.

Rachael: 23:05

And the amount of formula I was like, this formula is hella expensive. So I'm like, do you go through it in like a day, two days? Like, how many days does it take to get through a thing of formula? And then I'm like, this is just well it depends.

Brandi: 23:20

Stressful. I can tell you. Yeah, tell us, you know. Well, so if you're the obviously, if they're a newborn, they're gonna drink less. Right. But typically the newborn formula is a little more expensive because it has like all the nutrients, right? Um, so it also depends on how many bottles. You know, they're not a like an adult where you eat three meals a day. Right, right. You you they f get fed more periodically. Um, and it can be pretty wasteful sometimes too, because you can't like reheat it if they don't finish their bottle. Right. Um but it goes a lot faster than you think because they're not full all the way to the top. If you think of like our protein powder containers, there's there's some air in there. It's not as much as a potato chip bag, but right. Um and I mean it takes quite a bit of of protein uh protein formula for a bottle. And as they get older, they're still eating lots of intervals, but their bottles are bigger.

Sarah: 24:20

Right.

Brandi: 24:21

You know, you go from like five, six ounces to like eight or nine.

Sarah: 24:24

Then you start eventually adding food into purees and baby food.

Brandi: 24:29

Yep. Yeah.

Sarah: 24:30

And that's not even talking about like the specialty formula where you know, if they do have different yes, I wouldn't say eating habits.

Brandi: 24:39

Dietary restrictions. Thank you.

Sarah: 24:40

Sensitivities and sensitivities, yes, I knew there was a proper word there. Um because those are just gonna be even more expensive too.

Brandi: 24:48

Some of those I've seen are even like double it's crazy. Like I said, from the tap, if you can't. But diapers too, though. They pull those bad boys out left and right.

Sarah: 24:58

Yeah. And I I see everything about the fabric diapers too.

Brandi: 25:03

Yeah, but then you gotta special detergent because sometimes scents and dyes from the detergent can impact a baby's bottom.

Sarah: 25:15

So definitely lots of it seems stressful. Yeah. So grateful that there are resources in the community for new moms and newborns.

Rachael: 25:25

Yeah, one thing I didn't know, I feel like the older population, like there's becoming more of them, obviously, because like our parents, the boomers, the boomers are kind of getting to that age now. Where um specifically at the why, I did not realize like when I think of the why, I think like, oh, there's the pool in the gym.

Sarah: 25:47

Yeah.

Rachael: 25:48

And they do have child care, which is nice, like before school, after school, and you know, all hours. And they do a little bit of summer program. Yeah, like summer camp. Like, you know about the why. Yeah, like you know about the why because of summer camp. But what my why has specifically is they have um like health prevention programs or chronic disease prevention programs. So they have like diabetes prevention, cancer recovery, blood pressure monitoring, and exercise for Parkinson's as well. So they'll have like cohorts of people that are like in remission or something like that, and they'll like go through this cohort together and then kind of be a support system for one another, which I think is pretty cool.

Sarah: 26:31

Yeah, absolutely.

Brandi: 26:32

So I was gonna say, and uh if you need help finding a lot of these resources and stuff, you know what kind of going back to the library. They usually have a good resource list of where to find things. And I mean, they're like a magic hat too. They you can just randomly get stuff out of the out of a library that you wouldn't expect to do.

Rachael: 26:52

Yeah, like who even knew that you could rent a telescope from the library or like get plants from the library? I think you can get like baking pans from the library.

Brandi: 27:02

That's crazy. Um I've even seen like um certain small kitchen appliances. Like if you needed a food processor for like Thanksgiving or something, um, or uh fishing poles. I've seen there where you can like rent fishing poles. I mean they've got everything. They've got I mean they've had to expand because the books, yes, a library's got f you know, books you can check out, but a lot of people have gone to like Kindles and e-readers and stuff, and there is an app for that. Yeah. But in audiobooks. Yeah. But there are a lot of a lot of really cool things that you can get from your library or a lot of events that are um advertised through the library. Um, you know, always check out their bulletin boards and their website because they're a pretty pivotal part of a a neighborhood and community.

Rachael: 27:55

Yeah. Um well you can do a lot, like you can get passport services there, free Wi-Fi. I think they even have hot spots.

Brandi: 28:03

You can even get super discounted if not free. I think it's free black and white print. Um, and then you pay like per colored if it like per page.

Rachael: 28:12

One time my Wi-Fi just like stopped working when I was living in my apartment and I was freaking out because I had all these calls, and I'm like, where the fuck am I even gonna go to you know have these calls because I'm on Zoom calls the whole time. And then went to my library, got a private room, yeah. And they're like, Yeah, just you know, you can use this room for you know 90 minutes or however long you need it, but if nobody else comes, then you can just stay in that room. And I'm like, fuck yes. So I went to the library so many times just because it was a nice way to get out of the house.

Sarah: 28:42

I love their little meeting rooms and their study room spaces and daddy's listeners.

Brandi: 28:47

The library card is free. It's free dollars. Say it again for those in the back. It's free! F-R-E-E, that spells free. I don't know why.

Sarah: 28:57

I was always under the assumption that library cards were like expensive and I just didn't know what else I would do with them. Free. Also, the Libya is freaking awesome. Yes, I've heard things about that too. The Libya was nice with it. When I worked at the assisted living, um, there were quite a few residents who we'd have to help um navigate through that app.

Rachael: 29:22

You have to have a library card to use it, right? Like you have to attach. So go to the library, get your library card, which is free, and then you just download the app, attach your card to it. Yeah, so the app is free, and then you can get all of the free.

Brandi: 29:35

I mean, you still might have to wait for popular books like you would at for physics. I go on a waiting list.

Sarah: 29:40

Yeah, we I would help a woman get on the waiting list for the books that she would love.

Rachael: 29:44

Yeah, yeah. But it updates you. It's like, hey, your book's ready now, or your example. Yeah, and then you can like push back your holds if you need to, or you can renew.

Brandi: 29:54

Well, you they there's a whole thing now where you can only suspend them because it was costing them too much money to have these giant cues of people. It's a whole thing I was reading up on. So you can suspend it, and then when you're ready to read it, you'll get back in line. It like holds the same.

Rachael: 30:10

Interesting.

Brandi: 30:11

There are a lot of people that were check so it's you get a license for the book, and every time you rent it, the library has to pay a small fee for the use of that license. So if you're renting it and not reading it and it's just sitting there and then it expires, and then you try to do it again, like each time you do it, it costs the library money. So they We're like, if you're not ready, we're gonna move on to the next person. And we'll hold your spot in line until you are ready because it was costing them a lot of money. And we all know that funds towards libraries aren't getting bigger. Right.

Rachael: 30:49

I went to the library um Gala a few years ago and I was like, Hell yeah, I would go and like donate money every year for the libraries.

Brandi: 30:59

I actually have considered becoming like when I retire, becoming a librarian. You have to go to school. You have to have a special degree to read the library.

Rachael: 31:11

Like one of my good friends, she's a librarian and she is badass. She is like the most knowledgeable person I know about any single book every time.

Brandi: 31:18

Do we go to the school system?

Rachael: 31:20

Yeah, if I go onto like her Goodreads, she's like always reading multiple books at a time. Like it is badass.

Brandi: 31:26

Oh my goodness. Can I meet her? I feel like we'd get along. Because I also read multiple books at a time. Yes.

Rachael: 31:31

I can introduce you.

Brandi: 31:32

It'll be a whole thing. Yeah, so that's what that's always kind of in a backup retirement plan. I just gotta go to school.

Rachael: 31:39

That's amazing. See, I would want to be like the event planner for the library system, you know? Like, let me bring all these people in. Like, let me show people about all the resources and all the cool stuff.

Brandi: 31:49

No, I want to be like, this is the book you want.

Rachael: 31:52

Not that one.

Brandi: 31:53

Put up little funny displays, you know, of like relevant stuff. Yeah.

Rachael: 31:58

Or like top picks. Yeah. You know, if you're feeling if you're in this mood, go for this book. If you're in this mood, go for this book. Yeah, I support that. Yeah. I want a thrift store.

Brandi: 32:10

That'd be good too. I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. I could see that.

Sarah: 32:14

Like a thrift store that can also be my artwork and then Yeah. And also have like some sort of resource thing attached to that.

Rachael: 32:22

I love that. I love that for you. And you're gonna be the librarian. I don't know what I would have. We've got time, guys. We got time to do that out. Yeah, I'll do an events for the library.

Brandi: 32:32

Yeah, so I know we've talked a lot about like housing and food and you know, baby supplies and stuff, but uh what a lot of people kind of forget is how expensive healthcare can be. Yes. Especially if your job doesn't have it. Right. Um, 'cause it's not required for you to have health insurance anymore. That's been gone for a few years now. Um so you know, there are especially for women, you know, staple things that our body needs a yearly examination of to stay healthy and understood. Um and I know this organization gets a lot of negative publicity from people who are pro-life. And I don't want to get political or anything, but Planned Parenthood is a nationwide organization and resource if you are underinsured or uninsured. They it's so it's so affordable. Yeah, you can go and get free birth control, which we've talked about the expense of babies. Yeah. Like if you birth control is important. Oh my gosh, you know. Yeah, especially if you're not ready.

Rachael: 33:43

Um they do other stuff too. Oh, I feel like they do their women exams, all that.

Brandi: 33:48

Yes, they do um like your annual stuff there, they'll even do um STI screenings, they'll do HPV screenings. Um, I saw at least the ones in Missouri. Um World Visectomy Day was in October. Yes, and they were offering free vasectomies that day. You had to schedule an appointment. But they even do men's health care, and people just don't realize that. So um that they do so much for people that can't afford a normal doctor, normal co-pays. Uh even if you have insurance, they still take that and work with you on but they I mean, they'll even they I think even do like um tube like tube tying, tube removal and stuff, because um a lot of insurance companies actually cover that that people don't realize. Um but yeah, if you I mean any kind of sexual health, I think they even do oh they do telehealth too. Oh, they do, I didn't know that. I know they do like flu vaccines and things like that, even though a lot of places you can get those free. But that's just another place. I know there's like pregnancy testing and planning if you do end up pregnant. Mental health, I mean everyone's therapy's expensive, we all know that. Um you know, so they help you um find affordable therapists and things like that because there are therapists that take insurance and there's some that aren't and everyone should have access to therapies.

Rachael: 35:26

Oh yeah, hundred percent Yeah. So there's I know it's uh another organization that is I believe it's national, is United Way.

Brandi: 35:34

Okay.

Rachael: 35:35

And United Way, I mean, I I feel like I don't even know exactly what they do, but if you sign up to be a volunteer on the United Way website, then you can search for all of the volunteer opportunities.

Brandi: 35:47

Yes, I've done that.

Rachael: 35:48

That's how yeah, I mean that's how I found like the garden that I volunteer at. But you can search based on like interest area, so like what type of volunteering you would want to do, as well as like the topic or you know, the type of resource that you would want to volunteer with. And I feel like even they even partner with other organizations too to help support their missions as well. So it's all about and I think their focus is on like the education, financial stability, and health. So like that's kind of where their topics are.

Sarah: 36:21

United Way also runs two-on-one. Oh, okay. Oh, so they do allow for housing situations, um, for the food banks, for like you said, education, job training, substance abuse help, transportation, domestic violence resources. Um yeah, they are they are two-on-one.

Brandi: 36:44

Also, United Way is actually global. Global. Nice. Yeah, there's a lot of like Fortune 500 companies that they their main um charity or organization they volunteer with or fundraise for is United Way because it branches out into so many other organizations. I know growing up, I don't know if it's still a thing, but like back in the day, like business casual was pretty strict at like very traditional businesses. And I don't know if you guys remember Jeans Day.

Rachael: 37:17

Jeans Day.

Brandi: 37:19

Oh my god, and yeah, like five dollars to wear jeans on a f on Fridays usually. Yeah.

Sarah: 37:24

Oh my god. Jeans Day, so many things coming out of the way.

Rachael: 37:30

Now it's like a day put on regular jeans instead of sweatpants because everyone's crazy.

Brandi: 37:37

Yeah, so there's a lot of a lot of organizations that like United Way because if they're a an international or even national company, United Way helps all of their sites versus just one location.

Sarah: 37:50

One thing I know that United Way does as well that I also think a lot of people don't realize there are resources for are the resources for the caregivers. Yes. Or those who are in healthcare or just caregivers for, you know, family member, whatever it might be, um, they do have resources for um respite re support and caregiver groups as well. Interesting.

Rachael: 38:13

Yeah. I mean, I think that's the thing that I've struggled with the most the past year is like, where do I go to learn about Medicaid, Medicare, assisted living, and where do I go to learn about if somebody is homeless, how can I like get them on a wait list somewhere, or like how can I figure out like what type of housing that they can get to? And so I did not realize that United Way did all that. That's nifty.

Sarah: 38:41

They do a whole lot. Um people who need assistance paying their rent or utilities on the unpaid caregiver stress because again, some caregivers aren't paid aren't paid caregivers. They are just doing this out of the goodness of their heart for their family or friends or whoever it might be. Um, people re-entering the workforce, teens and young adults for mentoring or after school support, disaster solutions, helping to get fund supplies after storms or fires or any sort of um environmental disaster, mental health, free or low-cost counseling referrals. Um they definitely they don't just do one thing, they do they're an umbrella of a whole lot of different things that they support and help with.

Rachael: 39:25

There's also this other nonprofit. I never realized that this was a thing, but I always drove past this resale shop and I was like, oh, they have super cute clothes in the window.

Brandi: 39:37

And are you talking about Saint Vincent?

Rachael: 39:39

It's not St. Vincent, no, it's um I'd have to look up the name of it. But the it is a resale shop, but it is the entire proceeds go towards the foster kids. Oh and so it's like the nonprofit started this resale shop. So everybody who works there um and like all the proceeds that go there all benefit the foster kids system.

Brandi: 40:07

Speaking of foster kids, one thing that I've learned I don't I don't even remember where I learned it, but one of the best things you can donate it to like a foster organization or if you know someone with foster kids are suitcases or duffel bags or backpacks. Because those poor kids have to put their stuff in trash bags to go from home to home. And it just it just breaks my heart. So I've donated lots of I I swear I rack up bags not necessarily suitcases because those are kind of expensive, but bags. Bags, bags, yes.

Rachael: 40:43

I have so many whether they're from the freaking give you a Lululemon bag and you're like, Why do I need this back?

Brandi: 40:48

Yeah. I have so many backpacks from like different organizations I've been a part of or whatever. So I usually try to donate them to those kids and stuff because a backpack's kind of dual purpose.

Sarah: 41:00

Mm-hmm.

Brandi: 41:00

They can use it to carry all their stuff from home to home. Hopefully they're not doing that too often, but in some cases they are. Um, and then they can turn around and use it for school too. Absolutely. But yeah, suitcases, uh you know, it's just so sad that you all of your belongings end up in a in a trash bag and you have to carry that over your shoulder to the next place. It's bad enough that a kid's hopping from home to home or whatever, but then to not have like the dignity with an actual bag and stuff. So that's something to always think about too. If you've got absolutely suitcases that you're not using anymore or you know, you've upgraded or things like that, try to find an organization that helps to foster kids.

Sarah: 41:44

And you know, something I was thinking about today too, is when we're if we're talking about you know, donating and and um finding ways to help and get involved. A lot of these nonprofit organizations obviously they raise money to help their initiatives. But also like donations to those organizations just for like admins, support supplies to help them continue on helping other people organizations. I just thought about that today, honestly, where I'm like, I wonder if it really I mean, yeah, again, the whole purpose is to um fund your initiative, but the organizations also need need the help.

Brandi: 42:29

So there's a website out there that grades trying to think of what it was, um takes charities and grades them based on how they spend their monetary donations.

Sarah: 42:43

Um like a nonprofit better business bureau.

Brandi: 42:47

Yeah, it but it just highlights um charity navigator, I think is what it was.

Sarah: 42:53

Ooh, interesting.

Brandi: 42:54

Um but there's I'm sure there's several out there now. Um but what it does is it goes in and it, you know, it grades how much they give their CEO, how much they give to administrative, how much, you know, if it's a cancer research organization, how much do they actually what percentage of your funds goes to research and development and all that? And there's some some big ones out there that'll surprise you on how poorly they use your funds. Yeah. Executives are making it um I won't like shade a bunch of them, but one that really got me that makes a ton of money is the Susan G. Comen Foundation. And they are one of the worst graded organizations for breast cancer because they spend so much on like the swag and stuff that they do for their runs and things like that that a very small percentage actually goes through research. So if you are wanting to contribute towards um a breast cancer organization, look a little closer at some other places because when my mom was diagnosed with it, I was like, Okay, you know, I'm gonna look into this and see what groups are out there and everything. And that one Oh goodwill. The bigger they get, goodwill's another one, but we won't go there.

Sarah: 44:16

Um I was always we were always really big into Relay for Life. Just as an organization that helped to support cancer as a whole. Um I don't know. I mean, I remember as a kid, th people had those walks all the time. They were always at least once a year at every high school. We had them in college too. Yeah, all the time. So I know there's a lot of other different um walks and different events you can also attend or donate to to help um show support in any way that you want as well.

Rachael: 44:49

And I think Yeah, I think you just it seems kind of overwhelming, honestly. Like I feel like I know I don't know where to look for anything, but as we're talking, we're like, oh, there are like so many options out there. So I think start with what you know and then you'll kind of like branch off and figure out yeah, and figure out more options from there. Yeah. But it seems like 211 is like a really good option to start with, and your library is at least a really good option to start with, and to find your local stuff, especially. Start there and kind of go from there.

Brandi: 45:20

So and I'm going to backpedal, I said one website, but it's actually charitywatch.org. CharityWatch. Not Charity Navigator, but charity watch. Charity Watch. Yes. Also, give give.org also reviews. Yes.

Sarah: 45:39

I've I've seen that one before.

Brandi: 45:41

Yeah. So they'll they'll break down your your organization so you can kind of see who to give your money to and who's gonna but when in doubt, find your local ones because a lot of times they don't have the national funding or even the um backing of a large group of people to donate.

Sarah: 46:02

So usually they're the ones out on the streets doing the work locally to to help your neighbors, your own neighbors in the community.

Brandi: 46:09

So when in doubt, donate local because you know that's actually impacting your your your immediate community and and people you may know. You never know who's struggling. Absolutely. Um, you know, everyone I think we're very blessed that we're um living the lives that we have. Absolutely. Um but you never know when something could anything can happen. Anything could happen could happen. You know, does that I I feel like this day and age, there's a lot of people in our age group that are just one issue away from being hungry or being homeless or you know, just one car issue that breaks your bank, you can't get it fixed, and it's hard to get yourself. You can't necessarily get to work, therefore you lose your job, and then you can't pay your bill. You know, things it's so I think people underestimate how quickly you can spiral if you don't have the help from family or friends or whatever.

Sarah: 47:18

Like you know, it it can happen at any point in time to anyone. So it's I'm very much a big put yourself in someone else's shoes to before you like judge.

Brandi: 47:28

Yeah. So while these, you know, resources may not be beneficial to you now, maybe they hopefully they aren't something that you have to rely on, or maybe someone you know is going through something and you know, we don't obviously know all of the resources, but these are always good places to start, and it's a nice little compact little episode for people to to take notes and and go from there. It at least gives you starting points.

Sarah: 47:56

And I think we're kind of like at a point post-COVID too where like people are are looking for looking for things to do again. Yeah. Like we're we're kind of like we we're trauma has settled a little bit. Yeah. At least mentally, like we're out of here. Yeah, and so volunteering too is just a way to get out if you want to do something. Yeah.

Rachael: 48:20

I'm curious what we missed. Like, I would be curious for the listeners to tell us like what are organizations that you know of.

Sarah: 48:28

But start a chain. Yeah. Start a comic chain of like your favorite local organization or resource or something that personally helped a friend.

Brandi: 48:37

If you could put your location, at least state maybe, if you're not comfortable put it putting your city, but put your state in an organization you like to donate to. Um you know, that way if someone else in the area your area listens and they see it, that can help. All there's no such thing as too much information on this kind of stuff unless you're overwhelmed. Then it might be a little bit, but it's always good to have lots of options.

Rachael: 49:02

Absolutely. Exactly. And what are we at now? We're at location-wise. I was gonna pull up the stats. Of course you were. Um what is this? We're in uh all time. Give us the goods. Um, we're in 20 total countries and territories and 152 different cities. So we know you're listening. We know there are local organizations out there.

Sarah: 49:34

And we know some of you either work for some or may have started your own organization because that's something too that just seems like mind-blowing to me. Yeah. That someone can just get up and just start a nonprofit organization. But there are also resources to help you start a nonprofit organization. Exactly.

Brandi: 49:52

So it's also like supporting like companies like you don't know how to do your taxes for a nonprofit. There's people that will like do it for free to help you and things like that. So yeah, that's a whole other wormhole there.

Rachael: 50:07

Okay. Well, thank you everybody for listening. We're glad that you're here and trying to find resources in your community. Be empathetic, care about people, get out there and volunteer, and let us know your thoughts. Let's make it different. Yeah, we got this. Okay, so until next time. Stay bold, stay empowered, girl.