Brunswick Cares Q2,Q3 08 Results

In the second and third quarters of 2008, I spent most of my time looking for items that were free and not just a really good deal. That meant less items, but less out of pocket, too. With a slow summer work-wise, I had to think of myself as a bit of charity case!

These quarters, as with others, were mostly personal hygiene products like razors, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste.

Q2/Q3 2008 (VALUE / SPENT): $655.14 / $12.84

Translation: I spent $12.84 to obtain a whole bunch of great stuff with an aggregate retail value of $655.14. Not bad!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.

MISSION STATEMENT
Brunswick Cares collects donations from club members at the beginning of every quarter. Over the course of the next three months, the club watches for incredible deals on non-parishable food and personal care items — then buys them in bulk and donates them to charity. This provides the highest amount of quality products to needy families at the best cost.

Brunswick Cares Q1 08 Results

In the first quarter of 2008, there weren't many deals and my poor health didn't provide me with much motivation to get out and take advantage of them anyway.

This quarter was mostly personal hygiene products like soap, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste.

Q1 2008 (VALUE / SPENT): $301.28 / $21.51

Each $1 contribution carried the value of roughly $14 in purchases when sale prices, coupons, and rebates were factored in!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.

MISSION STATEMENT
Brunswick Cares collects donations from club members at the beginning of every quarter. Over the course of the next three months, the club watches for incredible deals on non-parishable food and personal care items — then buys them in bulk and donates them to charity. This provides the highest amount of quality products to needy families at the best cost.
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Operation Cowbell

When Cowbell put out the call to help the troops in Iraq on her blog I Need More Cowbell*, her readers rallied to the cause.

I jumped in with both feet and diverted my Brunswick Cares (see below) Q4 budget to the effort. I put my brain in bargain-shopper mode, redeemed my free BJ's Wholesale Club membership coupon, and got a ton of stuff. Yes, a ton I say, after spending $60 just on shipping!

• Act II Microwave Popcorn (72 Bags)
• Kraft Microwave Easy Mac (36 Packets)
• Hamburger Helper Microwave Singles (16 Packets)
• Planters Snack Nut Pouches (24 Packets)
• Austin Crackers with Peanut Butter (45 Packets)
• Gillette Good News! Twin Razors (64 Razors)
• Sunsilk Shampoo (4 Bottles)
• Swiss Miss Instant Cocoa (120 Packets)
• Kellogg's Lego Gummi Snacks (50 Packets)
• Lextron AA Batteries (96 Batteries)
• Wrigley's Peppermint and Wintergreen Gum (80 Packs)
• Mott's Apple Cider Drink Mix (48 Packets)
• Striped Peppermint Hard Candies (10 Pounds!)
• Pringle's Potato Crisps (6 X-Large Cans)
• Tootsie Rolls (505 Midgies)
• Hershey Kisses Assortment (10 Bags)
• Neutral-Color Nail Polish (3 Bottles)
• Assorted Magazines

This, in addition to the efforts of other Operation Cowbell members, should give a boost to some of the troops!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.
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Brunswick Cares Q3 07 Results

In the third quarter of 2007, the deals were on par with the second quarter. Which is to say, less than the first quarter of this year. This quarter brought lots of feminine hygiene products, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste.

Q3 2007 (VALUE / SPENT): $446.77 / $39.54

Each $1 contribution carried the value of roughly $11.50 in purchases when sale prices, coupons, and rebates were factored in. That's a 1000% return on donation!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.

MISSION STATEMENT
Brunswick Cares collects donations from club members at the beginning of every quarter. Over the course of the next three months, the club watches for incredible deals on non-parishable food and personal care items — then buys them in bulk and donates them to charity. This provides the highest amount of quality products to needy families at the best cost.
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Brunswick Cares Q2 07 Results

Q2 2007 (VALUE / SPENT): $259.62 / $46.11

In the second quarter of 2007, the deals were less than the first quarter of this year. Bargain priced items, particularly cans of Chicken of the Sea Tuna on sale for 50¢, made up the bulk of the donations.

Each $1 contribution carried the value of roughly $5.50 in purchases when sale prices, coupons, and rebates were factored in. That's a 550% return on donation. That's down significantly from 1300% from last quarter, but a great deal nonetheless!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.

MISSION STATEMENT
Brunswick Cares collects donations from club members at the beginning of every quarter. Over the course of the next three months, the club watches for incredible deals on non-parishable food and personal care items — then buys them in bulk and donates them to charity. This provides the highest amount of quality products to needy families at the best cost.
*

Brunswick Cares Q1 07 Results

Q1 2007 (VALUE / SPENT): $515.01 / $37.77

The first quarter of 2007 proved to be a bit light on available deals. While the number of things I found for free went up, the number of bargain priced items went down. So we did better at maximizing our investment, but the total amount of donated goods was down. As I recall, this was the same for the first quarter of 2006.

The awesome news is that the value of each $1 contribution carried the value of roughly $13 in purchases when sale prices, coupons, and rebates were factored in. That's a 1,300% return on donation!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.

MISSION STATEMENT
Brunswick Cares collects donations from club members at the beginning of every quarter. Over the course of the next three months, the club watches for incredible deals on non-parishable food and personal care items — then buys them in bulk and donates them to charity. This provides the highest amount of quality products to needy families at the best cost.
*

Brunswick Cares EOY 06 Results

2006 YEAR-TO-DATE (VALUE / SPENT): $3,093 / $519.52

The spirit of giving for the holidays really hit home when I calculated the final results for this year's donations. We spent almost $520 to buy $3,093 worth of goods and then donated them.

Shampoo and toothpaste were at the top of the list of free items while dish detergent, liquid bath soap, and razors were heavily discounted. The ratio of donation amount to contribution value was 17%, continuing our high rate of success. Essentially, each $1 contribution carried the value of roughly $5 in purchases!

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I started the Brunswick Cares donation club at the end of 2005 in order to donate non-perishable food and personal care items to charitable organizations. After some research, I settled on Troy’s Unity House Food Pantry since they tend to HIV/AIDS affected, elderly, and poor constituencies.

Over the years I would see things for free, or at a significant discount when I was shopping and I'd think they might be good for someone even though I didn't particularly need or want the items. So I decided to take advantage of the freebies and donate them to reputable charities. What started as a personal effort turned into a eclectic collection of friends and neighbors as soon as folks found out about what I was doing and my success. Everyone gets excited when they can actually see the bags and boxes of goods that I accumulate.

MISSION STATEMENT
Brunswick Cares collects donations from club members at the beginning of every quarter. Over the course of the next three months, the club watches for incredible deals on non-parishable food and personal care items — then buys them in bulk and donates them to charity. This provides the highest amount of quality products to needy families at the best cost.