How to Change a Life with Just $12

"Transition bags" to help people transition to a better place in life.

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Triathlon isn’t exactly an inexpensive sport.

This is mostly because you need gear for three different sports. The bike is always the biggest up-front expense, but you need to maintain the bike, and that adds up too.

Wetsuits and kits can be pricey, and then you’ve got the ongoing costs of nutrition, (likely) coaching, and race entries. Runners have it a bit easier, but regular shoe purchases, smartwatches, and trips to out-of-state races aren’t cheap either.

We’re currently planning our trip to Marbella, Spain for the 70.3 Ironman World Championship. The costs add up pretty quickly.

• Around $800 for a race entry

• $1,300 for a house for the week

• $2,000 for international flights

Getting a bit off topic here, but that’s why you don’t have to accept a slot if you qualify for a World Championship. Sure, it’s a great experience and, if you can afford it, by all means go. But don’t put yourself in a financial hole trying to scrape things together for a single race. (Kona, I’m looking at you).

So, if you’re an athlete competing in Ironman or marathons, it’s safe to say you’ve got what my dad likes to call some “disposable income” to spare. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a blessing to have the finances, health, and ability to do the activities you enjoy.

But it’s good to maintain some perspective and remember that not everyone is as fortunate.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot more homeless folks in town. The most recent was a man standing by a stop sign in triple digit temperatures, no shade, with nothing to drink.

Matt and I have an agreement. It comes as a result of his experience with people he’s seen at clinic and my past experience with family members. We don’t hand out money, but we will give other things. On this day, all we had was a bottle of Gatorade, so we gave him that.

But I thought there had to be more we could do to help, a way to plan ahead in case we found ourselves in a similar situation again. So, I went to Wal-Mart and created care packages filled with small, essential items and snacks. Some people call these blessing bags or kindness kits, but of course we’ve got to go with the theme, so these are transition bags- helping people transition to better moments in life.

And I want to show you how to make them!

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How to Make a Transition Bag

Transition bags are filled with a few small, essential items, as well as some snacks and water. My goal was to create the bags as inexpensively as possible so I could make several of them.

Here’s what we put in ours:

• Bottle of water

• Ritz crackers

• 4 beef jerky sticks

• 2 granola bars

• Toothbrush and toothpaste travel kit

• Mini sunscreen

• Mini deodorant

• Bar of soap

• Mini hand sanitizer

• Package of wipes

• 2 pairs of socks

• Small notebook with a pen

• An encouraging note

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For snacks, I tried to pick calorie-dense options that wouldn’t melt in the heat, because we planned to store these in the truck. (Did you know there are hardly any granola bars without chocolate chips these days?!)

The travel section of Wal-Mart is a great place to find mini toiletries, because they’re all $1-2 a piece. We wanted two different options for “showering.” That’s why we have a full bar of soap, as well as flushable wipes in case people don’t have access to water. Also, Matt’s #1 item to include was hand sanitizer, because that’s the most common way people spread germs and get sick.

He also told me that socks are the top requested item among the homeless population, so I made sure to put a few pairs in each bag. *Note- This was the most expensive item on the list.

The one thing I added to the bags that’s not typical was a small notebook. I think they were .35 cents. I thought it would be nice to have something you own, a possession, where you can write down thoughts, numbers and addresses, or leave a note.

Once I divided up all the items, they went into large Ziplock bags we already had in the house. We keep these transition bags in the seatback pocket in the truck so we always have them with us. Matt already gave his to someone by Publix last week, but I haven’t had the opportunity to give one out yet.

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And what did all this cost?

$12

Each bag only cost $12 to make, and I made 5 bags, so $60 total.

$60 to make a difference in the lives of five people. And let’s face it, $60 is far less than we spend on triathlon nutrition each month.

It isn’t anything dramatic, but you can change someone’s life with a small gesture of kindness. If this is something you want to do, but you can’t swing that much, do what you can with what you have.

It would be super simple to create a pared-down version with just a bottle of water and a granola bar. A 40-pack of water is $4.92 at Wal-Mart, and you can get a 12-pack of granola bars for $3.84.

As Christians, we believe that we were blessed so that we can bless others. And this is an easy way to do that.

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News & Notes

1. My latest for Outside Run is 12 Half Marathons That Feel Like a Party, with the next 6 in the series coming soon.

2. Part 1 in a series about runners who've qualified for the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship this July in Snowdonia. Why We Run (Volume 1) features 67-year-old Lynette Bryant from Auckland, who took up trail running as a new challenge in retirement and signed up for her first race not knowing it was a trail run! Also, Isabela Gonzaga, who made a big move from Brazil to Malta and started exploring her new home "with a pair of trail shoes, a Strava heatmap, and a whole lot of curiosity," which lead to winning a race in her new town.

3. Paid subscribers, don’t forget we have our monthly expert chat: Everything You Need to Know About Sweat Testing with Precision Fuel & Hydration on July 22nd at 6:00 pm EST. A link to join will come in an email.

What I’ve enjoyed reading lately:

• 9 Tips For What to Do When Race Day Goes Wrong- Paul Newsome

• Fundamentals Are Enough- Max Auer

• Stronger, Faster, Older: An Argument Against Acting Your Age an an Endurance Athlete- Matt Fitzgerald

• The Non-Negotiable: Why I Train Without A Race in Sight- Jan Frodeno