Texas Woman Uses "Extreme Couponing" To Help Hurricane Victims

SAN ANTONIO (CBS NEWS) - Kimberly Gager's garage is filled with so many boxes and miscellaneous products for Hurricane Harvey victims she can't park inside any more.

Laundry detergent, soap, diapers, baby wipes, formula — you name it, the San Antonio woman has bought it. She never misses out on a sale.

The woman, who has been "extreme couponing" for about five years, says she's now using her unique skills to help those in need.

"After Harvey, I kept telling my mom, 'There's something more that I need to be doing. I don't think I'm doing enough,'" Gager told CBS News. "So I put it out on Facebook."

The mother of three volunteered to shop on behalf of anyone willing to donate toward hurricane victims. She expected a few friends to pitch in, but to her surprise, she received dozens of responses.

"It kind of blew up," Gager said.

That was two weeks ago.

Since then, Gager has been clipping coupons, making daily trips to the grocery store early in the morning and using her lunch break to deliver items to families who lost everything in the hurricane. She's spent about $2,700 — but gotten goods worth about $5,000 in retail price.

"Sometimes I'm delivering until 1 or 2 a.m.," Gager said. "It's really becoming a second job. I've gotten very little sleep."

Gager estimates she's made at least 50 trips to her local Walgreens and Target to stock up on items families have requested.

"I'm in that store so much now that they know my name," she joked. "Now even at Target they see me coming they shut down a line and open another. They bring out pallets to roll items out to my car."

♦♦♦ Click Here To Read The Complete Story On cbsnews.com ♦♦♦

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.