Help someone today.
You don’t need a lot to be helpful – you just need intention.
You don’t need to be rich – let the rich people help with
MONEY. Find something YOU can help with.
·
Is it time? Do you have TIME that you could put aside to
volunteer for an organization?
·
Is it a talent? Can you play the piano and entertain nursing
home residents?
·
Is it a resource? Are you willing to donate blood at the Red
Cross?
·
Is it a skill? Can you cook a meal for a hungry neighbor?
This winter I am helping others by giving WARMTH. For the past few years I have collected
sweaters, coats, mittens, hats, and scarves to hand out to homeless
people. I get many of them from the
group Freecycle. David and I sometimes
make coffee and tea, pack up the warm gear, and go around Washington DC and
hand out sweaters, etc. People who
receive them are always really thankful.
But I got to thinking – there are people in my own
neighborhood, that walk right by my house,
that could use warm clothing. So I started
a little project. Every cold day, I put
one item on a hanger and place it on our front gate. I started with a warm lined jacket I had
gotten after I requested warm clothing to give away on Freecycle. A woman had cleaned out her neighbor’s
apartment after he died and she gave me 2 or 3 bags full of warm clothes, which
I washed up and folded. So I put one of
that man’s jackets on our front gate, along with a sign explaining that it was
free, and if you were cold it was YOURS.
And to please pass it along to someone else when you were done with
it.
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| Giving WARMTH - a sweater on our front gate for whoever needs it |
It was out there a few hours, and then I heard some people
talking. I peeked out the window and it
was a young couple with a small child. It
seemed like they were considering taking it, but the woman said, “No, you
should leave it for a homeless person”.
I thought that was so touching! It
was a freezing night, they were out walking in the dark (probably had gotten
off a bus and were walking home). They clearly
COULD have used the jacket. Yet the
woman knew that someone else could have used it even more. It was not long after they left it that
someone else (I didn’t see who) took it.
I was happy to see it was gone.
The next day I put out a sweatshirt with the same
sign. As we pulled out of the driveway,
we saw a man who looked like he may be a day laborer take it with him. It made me smile – day laborers stand out in
the cold waiting for work for so long, I was glad to think he had one more
layer of clothing to
protect him.
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| Sign for gate with changeable item labels |
Today I gave away a sweater. The person who took it also took the hanger
(even though my note asks people to leave it) and the note. So, I have made a new note and rustled up another
hanger. Tomorrow’s item, a thick, warm
brown knit stocking cap, is ready to go.
Sometimes I feel guilty getting things on Freecycle. I feel like other people probably need them
more than me. But I guess I am a bit of
a “middle woman” – driving around and collecting the warm gear, washing it, and
re-gifting it to people who need it.
I don’t tell you this story to boast. I tell you this story to inspire YOU to find
what YOU can do to help someone. If you
do, I promise it will make you smile. As
they say in a song in the show “Avenue Q”, “When you help others, you can’t
help helping yourself”.
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| Warm hat - ready for a new owner |
P.P.S. – here is a link to another applicable song that I
like, “Lean on Me” – and this is a really cool version of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiouJsnYytI
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