Rich Pinnell and his wife, Debbie, pack a gift bag with persona- care products in their home for the Bag Lady Project, which the couple began last year. Though they're happy to donate their own time and money, "We'd love to be a lot busier," distributing more donations, Rich said.

benjie sanders / arizona daily star

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Debbie and Rich Pinnell pour their hearts into a project to help the needy — after all, they used to be among them.

Debbie, 49, and her husband, Rich, 43, worked their way up from poverty during the 1990s. She had a disease that prevented her from working full time, while he worked several jobs.

Today, their hard-earned, stable lifestyle allows them to share some of their prosperity through the Bag Lady Project, which they formed in 2005.

"The bottom fell out, and so it's much easier to understand how those folks have to struggle," Rich said of the people they help.

Whenever they have enough money, the South Side couple prepare gift bags loaded with things such as hygiene products, toys and receiving blankets, and distribute them online and on the street in association with the Giving Tree Outreach Program.

Giving Tree, at 4888 E. Broadway, is a Tucson nonprofit devoted to helping the poor and homeless.

"We are finally at a point in life where we can help others," Debbie said. "It's a commitment we've made — even if it's $5 a month or $10 a month, we still have to do it."

As of mid-September, the two have donated 102 gift bags, 75 receiving blankets and several quilts and bibs primarily to needy women and children in the Tucson area.

"We'd love to be a lot busier," Rich said. "We'd love to grow."

The couple are looking for donations so they can help more needy people. People can donate through their Web site, www.bagladyproject.org.

So far, though, few people have donated, and most of the money for the project has been their own.

They hope to register the Bag Lady Project as a nonprofit organization in the future.

They started the venture after helping out a few times at the Giving Tree's Project FEED, a semiweekly community meal program. FEED stands for Feed Everyone Every Day.

It struck the Pinnells that only a few of the poor and homeless had hygiene items such as deodorant, shampoo or feminine-care products.

While there are several places where needy people can go to get food, the kinds of items the Bag Lady Project provides are harder to come by and aren't covered by food stamps.

But for the 4,500 to 5,000 homeless people in Tucson, those products are "invaluable," said Bill Magnotto, chairman of the Tucson Planning Council for the Homeless.

"These are the things that never get donated," he said. "There needs to be a lot more than that."

Though Rich recently lost his job, the couple stick with their project — it just means hunting for items at dollar stores and on sales racks.

"There is so great of a need in this town," said Debbie, who works as a representative in the outpatient-registration department at Tucson Medical Center. "It's a way that we can help people less fortunate than us."

The couple have devoted a room in their house to the project. There, yellow walls decorated with toy stickers surround boxes full of shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes, diapers and toys.

She'd love to fill another room with those items, Debbie said, gesturing widely.

But even at this point the Bag Lady gifts are an "incredible blessing" to the people who need them, said Giving Tree Director Libby Wright. "It makes a huge, huge difference."

Lisa Intravia found the Bag Lady Project while browsing the Web for financial assistance about six weeks ago.

The 40-year-old mother of three daughters said Debbie delivered bulging gift bags to her house about a week later.

"It's a great idea," she said. "I thought that was really nice."

Intravia moved to Tucson from Detroit this past summer.

Intravia said she has money for only the most urgent necessities and often can't afford things such as dish soap, shampoo or laundry detergent.

"I wish we could do it every month," Intravia said of receiving the bags, adding that her daughters, who are 5, 6 and 7, still play with the toys and bags the items came in.

In people like Intravia, Debbie finds the power to keep going.

She still remembers how good it felt when members of her church brought her dinner when she couldn't afford it.

And she knows how good it feels to get a present — not just a donation. With every one of her bags comes a note that reads:

"Especially for you from the Bag Lady Project.

"We hope these items are helpful to you and that you will pay it forward to two other people. It can be as simple as a smile, a hug or a kind word.

"God bless you."

South Side