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2. Bargains from Coupon Lady Benefit Homeless Teens
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Bargains from Coupon Lady Benefit Homeless Teens
By Barbara Hagey – Special to Village News

Savvy coupon-clipper Helen Bartolotta.

   Love finding a great deal? So does Helen Bartolotta. She’s a super bargain hunter who uses her shopping skills to help the teens living at the Toussaint Teen Center (TTC) as well as other charities. Father Joe fondly calls her "The Coupon Lady."
" I’m a senior citizen with time on my hands and I love to shop," says Bartolotta. She clips coupons for food and toiletries, organizing them by product into envelopes. Seven of her neighbors also contribute to the stash.

   Each week this savvy saver combs the newspapers for sales to combine with the coupons for extraordinary bargains. She gives an example of her strategy: "This week I had coupons for 75 cents off AquaFresh toothpaste and I found the large tubes on sale, two for $3.00. Vons and Ralphs double the coupons, so I got the toothpaste for free – all I had to pay was the six cents tax," she explains.

   Bartolotta, the mother of St. Vincent de Paul Village former Board Chairman Vince Bartolotta, will contribute up to 99 cents of her own money per item, but what she really looks for are the great deals she can pick up for a few cents. When a sizable load of toiletries are stockpiled, Vince is delegated to deliver it to the TTC store, called the Broken Token.

   There residents can spend "TTC Bucks" they have earned for chores, good grades and other achievements. Another beneficiary of the senior Bartolotta’s cagey coupon cutting is a convent in Tijuana where she donates food every week for distribution to the needy.

   " It’s my small way of making a contribution," says Helen. "And it’s good for me too. I enjoy it, and it gets me out of the house. When my cardiologist asks me what I do for exercise, I tell him I shop several hours a week."

   What lessons we can learn from this wonderful woman! She shows us that with a little ingenuity, we can find ways to help others and have a great time doing it!
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