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Reality TV shows are good for something, it turns out.

A 16-year-old girl actually learned a valuable skill while watching “Extreme Couponing,” and has turned it into a philanthropic powerhouse for aiding people in hospitals and homeless shelters.

Instead of hoarding a stash of goodies, she uses those coupon skills to deliver food, household and personal supplies, and electronics to people in need. Hannah Steinberg has delivered many thousands of dollars worth of products by being a savvy shopper, stockpiling the goods that she buys super cheap–and continues the effort, even while in college, through her own nonprofit.

The Tufts University student runs her nationally recognized nonprofit, “Our Coupons Care” in Massachusetts.

A youth coordinator at Coachman Family Center in White Plains says Hannah has donated $100,000 in products to that shelter alone, helping the 175 children living there.

By understanding how “Extreme Couponing” works, Hannah tracks deals and stacks coupons and other offers together in combinations, which slashes the price of items to tiny fractions of their usual cost

Funneling the money her nonprofit raises into buying more bargains lets her multiply every dollar’s purchasing power by five.

She’s done so much good for her community, she has earned recognition by New York congressional leaders and her city of Scarsdale declared a Hannah Steinberg Day.

“This has become something so much bigger than I would’ve imagined, for me and for the families,” Hannah told the Boston Globe. “What I’m doing is very simple.

Even in college, she finds time to organize a new donation drive almost every month and has rounded up donations for the Toys for Totscampaign and for Boston Children’s Hospital among her other causes.

(READ more at the Boston Globe) — Photo: Chris Potter, CC

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