Feeding 30,000 people by her 30th birthday.
That’s the goal of Lauren Puryear, a 29-year old Woodbridge resident and founder of For the Love of Others, a community group that helps assist individuals in need.
According to Puryear, she started For the Love of Others in 2012 after her grandmother passed away.
“She just always had a really big heart, and taught us growing up to take care of other people, and love other people,” said Puryear.
Puryear started off with the convention methods to feed the hungry in the area, but soon found that couponing was a way that she could get large quantities of food for individuals, for the lowest cost.
“At first I just started off by doing Thanksgiving baskets for needy families, and Christmas wish lists for children. Then as years progressed, God laid other missions on my heart – one, feeding the homeless…I would just buy things in bulk from Costco and BJ’s. But then I was introduced to couponing, and once I learned how to coupon, and once I saw what I was able to buy for little to no money, I said ‘Oh my goodness, this is like going to be my ticket to really, really help people,’” said Puryear.
By using coupons, Puryear has been able to get countless packages of chicken nuggets, French fries, sandwiches, soups, crackers, and similar items.
“With coupons, I’ve already been able to feed over 5,000 people pretty much close to free,” said Puryear.
While couponing to get low cost food items has been an effective strategy for For the Love of Others, Puryear said that it can be quite the undertaking.
“I coupon for the items as much as I can, and then me and a group of my friends will pick an area, and we’ll just go to that area and feed the homeless. We primarily focus on Prince William County…I try to get people to see that couponing really does help and it can be used to help other people…I spend hours in the grocery store…sometimes I have to make multiple trips or take people with me to the store, so that they can make the purchases too,” said Puryear.
Puryear currently as a core group of friends helping her in her mission, but is currently looking for additional volunteers to assist in the effort.
“Couponing has been the tool to help me help others, and I am so grateful to be able to use this platform to do the work of the Lord,” said Puryear.
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