Like many families, the Weinrauchs visit Costco each month to load up on necessities. But in their case, the necessities aren’t for them.
“We give the homeless all this stuff,” says 9-year-old Torre Weinrauch. She and Zyree, her feisty 7-year-old sister, accompany their parents on Costco runs to handpick things like crackers, Band-Aids, water bottles, oranges, beef jerky, applesauce cups, juice boxes and “stuff they don’t have because they don’t have homes,” Zyree says.
The sisters each put $4 to $7 of their monthly allowance into a charity envelope to purchase items that they pack into paper sacks. “We just leave a bunch of bags in the car so we can hand them out to homeless people on street corners,” says their father, Paul, who notes his girls also contribute to other charities of their choosing, including the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Torre and Zyree not only buy and bag the handouts, they decorate them with crayons and phrases like “We love you!”
“When they see the drawings and look inside the bags they smile, and that makes me happy,” Zyree says.
“It makes their day amazing,” Torre adds, “and it makes me glad to help them.”
—Carol Brock
