Episode 46 of "Malcolm in the Middle"
s03e05 Charity

In an effort to contribute to society and to make her boys useful at the same time, Lois "volunteers" Malcolm, Reese and Dewey for charity work at a local church. The boys are assigned to sort giant piles of donated clothing, game, appliances etc. Initially irritated at their new task, they realize the donated stuff is a lot nicer than their own possessions, and they begin swapping out their old stuff with the second-hand items. The boys soon make a enterprise out of their charity assistance, going as far as to sell things to the neighborhood kids. Meanwhile, Francis finally arrives in Alaska, ready for his lucrative logging job, only to find that Eric has dragged him into indentured servitude. Lavernia, the owner of the general store/restaurant in the area is the meanest employer around. Francis is forced to worked cleaning up the place and made to pay for everthing he uses. He finds Eric, who's miserable (his first paycheck was for $6), and apologizes for dragging Francis into this mess. After scrubbing off the fat (to be used later for gravy, ewww) from the grill and getting chased from the outhouse by bears, Francis decides it's time to declare war on Lavernia. Malcolm, Reese and Dewey confess to Hal and he nearly faints. He makes them gather all the loot so they can take it back to the church before Lois finds out. On the way he tries giving the merchandise away to people on the street after the car breaks down and they can't get to the church before Lois sees them. Unfortunately, a cop wanders by and catches them in the act. After getting released Hal calls Lois to say that he and the boys are going away for a while but Lois convinces him that he can't run away. They arrive home to find Lois in a good mood and think they may have been spared her wrath... until the boys get to their room and notice all of their stuff is gone. Lois has donated it all to charity. They now have two sets of clothes, one for school and one for play. Francis and Eric plot to steal Lavernia's book (where she keeps a record of the what everyone owes her) and it all goes well, until they accidentally lock themselves in the cage where the book is held. Giving in, they gorge themselves on wine and food, figuring they'll be stuck working for her until the next millennium.