Guess what? Sometimes, reality television is good. Don’t believe us? Consider Hannah Steinberg.
As a junior in high school, Steinberg spent her downtime watching her favorite reality TV show, “Extreme Couponing.” Unlike the rest of us — whose brains were melting watching “Vanderpump Rules” marathons — Steinberg actually learned something useful from her favorite show.
She watched as many of the shopaholics featured on the show used their coupons to buy an excess of things they didn’t need like towers of “Yakisoba” and decided that she could do them one better.
Since then, Steinberg has created a charity called “Our Coupons Care.” Using Steinberg’s extreme couponing skills, the charity has donated $100,000 worth of household items, canned goods, and electronics to homeless shelters and hospitals.
According to the 20-year-old, it’s all pretty easy. When stores, private coupon companies and online marketplaces all offer discounts at the same time, you simply combine them. Blam! A billion boxes of Lucky Charms for everyone!
Steinberg says she can make “every dollar count for four to five dollars.” So, if she wins the Powerball, do we call it a wrap on world hunger?
Though she would prefer not to be recognized for her efforts, it’s tough to ignore such admirable selflessness. Which is why Steinberg’s hometown of Scarsdale, New York designated June 28 as “Hannah Steinberg Day” in honor of the altruist. The Tuft’s student has also gained notoriety among politicians like U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Representatives Eliot L. Engel and Nita M. Lowey.
While at Tufts, Steinberg still finds a way to organize donation drives each month and has raised $4,000 in student donations. How she’s managed to get any money from college students remains a mystery.
