Like so many Americans, Lauren Puryear is a big fan of couponing. But she is doing more with her coupons than simply saving herself money at the checkout stand.
Puryear uses extreme couponing to purchase foods that provide meals to the poor.
According to NJ.com, Puryear — a 29-year-old mental health clinician who lives in Woodbridge, New Jersey — wants to deliver 30,000 meals to needy Americans by her 30th birthday. She’s using couponing as a tool to help her achieve that goal.
Puryear launched the organization For the Love of Others in 2012 as a way to serve people who need help. According to group’s website, “For the Love of Others” is designed to “reach the people who simply need a helping hand to help bring them into a better place; a place of happiness and purpose.”
Before Puryear started using extreme couponing to purchase foods for her organization, she was buying food in bulk from warehouse clubs and online to do it. Couponing has paid off. Puryear says:
“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.”
According to NJ.com, Puryear says being smart with coupons has enabled her to feed as many as 150 people with just $20.
So far, Puryear has delivered more than 5,000 meals. She said she’s confident she will reach her 30,000 goal by her 30th birthday in 2017.
“The joy of helping other people does not compare to any other accomplishment in my life,” says Puryear in an interview with NJ.com.
For the Love of Others also provides:
- Mental health therapy
- Prayer and ministry services
- Money for Christmas gifts for several impoverished families across the U.S.
- “Blessed backpacks,” which are filled with basic necessity items. These are distributed on a monthly basis to homeless people in the agency’s service area
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