OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) — An organization, called Dots Owensboro, is offering a new approach to help those in need and help other local non-profits.

“It puts the giving in your hands. Where you don’t have to wait on a philanthropist. You don’t have to wait on the government. You don’t have to wait on a nonprofit with grant money. This puts the power of giving in your hands,” said Kyle Duckworth, a spokesperson and volunteer for the 501(c)(3).

1 dot equals $1, and clothing, home goods, mystery boxes and food are marked by how many dots they cost.

All items sold are brand new and donated by distributers looking to give back.
Since their opening in January, officials say the nonprofit has donated over $5000 worth of dots to local organizations.

“So, it’s kind of a cool little circle like you know you can come support our nonprofit — which is enabling you to help your community, but if you don’t like that you can come and just donate dots to non-profits on the board so they can come in and have access to these resources,” said Duckworth.

Signing up is a short process that takes a few minutes. A volunteer asks for your name, occupation, email address, phone number, and the number of people in your household.

Then, you’re handed a free 5 dot coupon for food and nonperishables. Customers qualify for one at the start of each week.

Each week dots picks a nonprofit to award extra dots that are donated. For the week of Aug. 28, all donated dots will go to Cravens Elementary School. Duckworth says the donation goal for Cravens Elementary is one thousand dots.

The highest number of dots raised in a week so far is 500, but he’s hoping to shatter that record for Cravens.

Dots Owensboro says its main focus is on igniting a spark for giving.

21-year-old Sofia Rubio says her weekly trips here are for a bigger cause.

“We always you know give back to people, like our family and friends, if we see something we think they may use. Cause we don’t just come just for us. We definitely hope and see that somebody we know may use something that we find here. We tell people all about it,” said Rubio.

There are 3 Dots locations across the country: Owensboro, Ky. , Evansville, In., and Montgomery, Ala. The Owensboro location opened in January of 2023.