Now that I am only 25 days away from my due date (holy crap!), my husband and I have been receiving many wonderful gifts for our little gestating fetus, whom we’ve nicknamed “Little B.” (Which stands for The Littlest Bristol) So many cute onesies and goodies! Indeed, Little B has been blessed with an over-abundance of generosity from our family and loved ones! We’ve already received three baby bathtubs! (Who knew that was the toaster of baby showers?)

So, in the spirit I approach all gift-getting occasions, I set aside a pile of duplicate baby things and took them to the Safe Nest domestic violence shelter charity drop-off. My philosophy on gifts is usually if something comes in, then something should be purged. Nobody needs all the stuff we think we need in this modern society! Now, considering my family is about to increase, I have not been quite as strict with myself on this. (Although I have taken 3 truckloads of goods, all of which came out of my old home office which is now the nursery, to another charity. It’s surprising how much crap you can easily get rid of once you start really looking at it!) But still, it felt right to donate items we’ll never use to a cause I believe in and where I know it will get good use.

People, there are babies at the shelter almost all the time. The shelter almost always has a dire need for baby items! Now more than ever, that just breaks my heart.

So I will make this pitch to you, my dear readers, to perhaps take $10 and buy a couple cans of formula or a couple packs of diapers or a few cute baby outfits (they are so cheap!), pacifiers, baby wipes … whatever you can do … and donate it to Safe Nest. (They also need plenty of adult items, which you can check out on their perennial wish list.)

Or, you know, you can always just write them a check and send it in. They always need it. Maybe it’s the soon-to-be mother coming out in me, but I just want to help them. I want to extend the bounty and joy I feel in my life to people who are struggling. And I know of some of that struggle, having survived childhood abuse in physical and sexual forms. And when I was in that struggle, I longed for a place I could go to get safe-haven and solace (no such luck in old Wasilla, Alaska).

When we help each other, we all win.