With the Bible as her guide, a 30-year-old Christian mother from Woodbridge, Virginia is being hailed as a "superhero" for having fed at least 30,000 people, with the number still rising fast.
Comic book superheroes have extraordinary powers, and Lauren Puryear also has one such "power"—her ability to gather and clip coupons found in newspapers, and using them to buy food items for free, Scary Mommy reported.
Extreme couponing is done by some shoppers to save plenty of cash. Puryear also saves a lot of money doing so, but the big difference is that she channels all her savings to help feed tens of thousands of hungry mouths.
Puryear said the spark for her charitable work was kindled by her grandmother who always encouraged her to be a light to others, according to CBN News.
In 2012, she launched her own charity called For the Love of Others. Since then she has traveled to various locations in the East Coast, delivering food and essentials to needy people.
Her charity work is based on biblical principles. In describing itself, For the Love Of Others, LLC states that it is based on "the biblical scripture John 13:34-35, which states, 'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.'"
"Our vision is a world in which every person attains the right to experience the love of Christ by seeing it demonstrated in others," it adds.
Puryear said her motto is "Love God. Love Others. Serve the World."
It was only last year when the then 29-year-old mental health clinician vowed to feed 30,000 people before her 30th birthday, using the countless coupons she had been collecting as the way to turn that goal into reality.
Six months before her 30th birthday, Puryear has already provided over 30,000 free meals to hungry people.
"After I couponed for 50 jars of Ragu sauce and 100 boxes of Barilla pasta all for free, I knew I was going to make a difference in the world," Puryear told Scary Mommy. "I will keep on feeding until then and see what number I can get up to. Maybe 300,000!"
As an indication on how much she's saving by her extreme couponing, Puryear said last year she was able to feed as many as 150 people on just $20, NJ.com reported.
"There are coupons in the Sunday paper, or online that you can print ... so I collect as many as I can, match them to the store and that is how I am able to get the items for free," Puryear said.
