Building a Stronger Community: Being Thankful

This originally appeared on my blog, The World We Wish For, enjoy!

Being thankful is sort of a theme this week, right? At least in the United States, that is. But I bet many of us forget to be thankful the other 51 weeks of the year. It's very easy to get caught up in all of the things that we don't have or that have gone wrong in our lives, but everyone always has something they can be thankful for. I'm not naive, I know times are tough for a lot of people in the world. Even in the toughest of times, though, there is something for you to be thankful for. Take a moment and consider your life. Are you healthy? Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have a great family? Do you have at least one wonderful friend? Do you have a job you love? Do you have a hobby you love? If you answered yes to just one of those questions, then you have something to be thankful for every day of the year.

If we make an effort to be thankful for something every day, it will become second nature to look on the bright side and remember that we are all lucky for what we have, as meager as it may seem some days. Once we are able to be thankful, we are able to share more of ourselves with those who have less than we do. As we share ourselves, we pass along the gift of thankfulness and build a stronger, happier community.

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading. I am thankful for your support!



Building a Stronger Community: Make Extra and Share

This was originally posted on my blog, The World We Wish For, enjoy!

We are coming into a period of time where multiple religious and secular holidays converge, along with all of the things that go with holidays and celebrations. Many of these celebrations include food. Some include the giving of gifts. In both cases, some of us go overboard (I'm looking at you cookie bakers everywhere!).  Instead of lamenting how much of what you baked, cooked, canned, pickled, etc is going to go to waste (or to "waist" if you, like me, try to eat it all yourself) why not share it. You could make your neighbor's day with a box of your special cookies. You could deliver some goodies to a school, office or shelter. No matter where you decide to share the fruits of your labor, they will be appreciated!

Now, I hear some of you telling me that you don't bake, cook, can, pickle...I get it, no problem. Do you knit, crochet or sew? Check with local shelters and schools. They are often looking for scarves, mittens and hats this time of year for folks that need them. Do you do other crafts? Donate some to a school's or church's craft fair. They'll be happy for the extras to use as raffle prizes or gifts for their workers. Do you love scrapbooking? Use some of your scraps to make bookmarks and donate them to your local library for their patrons. The possibilities are really endless.

The holidays are often thought of as a time of excess, but with a little creativity and a bit of community-building spirit, the holidays can be a time when EVERYONE has just exactly as much as they need.

Building a Stronger Community: Giving Back

Most people that know me, know that I participate in the Komen 3-Day for the Cure every year. This event sends folks on a 3 day walk, covering 60 miles. An all-volunteer crew staffs the event, along with the small tour staff that travels from city to city coordinating the events. Sometimes I walk, sometimes I crew, sometimes I do both. This year I am going to walk in Boston in July and then crew in Michigan a couple of weeks later.

Someone invariably asks me why I do the Breast Cancer 3-Day every year. After all, when I started in 2002, I knew very few friends or family that had ever had breast cancer. (Although, tragically, the number of friends with the disease grows every year.) I think that's beside the point. Why wouldn't I help raise money and awareness for breast cancer? EVERYONE has breasts (yes, men have to worry about it too). This event not only helps fund research for better treatments (and hopefully, someday, a cure), but it also helps to fund programs that assist underserved men and women in getting testing and medical attention.

The 3-Day has become a very special event for me. Now that I participate, I have many friends who are survivors or are fighting at this very moment. And even if I didn't know a single person who had been affected in some way by breast cancer, wouldn't it be enough to want to do something positive? Wouldn't it be enough to want to contribute to something larger than one's self? Wouldn't it be enough to want to be a part of something so optimistic in our highly cynical world? I think it is and that is why I participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day.

How you choose to give back is entirely up to you. It doesn't have to be a physical event. You could volunteer at a nursing home, hospital or school. You could volunteer at one of the physical events. You could donate money to a cause that is close to your heart. You could simply offer a kind word and a granola bar to the homeless man you pass every day on the way to work. Even children can get involved. My son has three piggy banks and one is his "Donate" bank. He gets to decide what gets done with that money. His favorite is adopting a child around Christmas time.

Every gesture, big or small, makes a difference to someone. And, I think you'll be amazed at how much you gain by giving.

Building a Stronger Community: Get to Know Your Neighbors

This post originally appeared on my community-building blog, The World We Wish For, but since I'm hoping there are some new readers here, I decided I would repost some of these tips.

Neighbors. Most of us have them; many of us don't even know their names. It's not that hard to understand. We're so busy running from one place to another, and so are they, that no one has time to stop and talk. At the same time we're running around, we're lamenting the disconnect in society. We're sad that the "good ol' days" of block parties and neighborhood kids playing together seem to have gone the way of tomato aspic and jello molds. We also cite safety concerns. How many times have you heard, or thought, "What do we really know about the people living around us?"

I offer you a solution: meet the people who live around you! What better way to reconnect as a society and alleviate those safety issues. Heck, once you get to know your neighbors, your safety will improve. Imagine two, four, six or more additional pairs of eyes keeping a lookout for suspicious activity. Your kids are "bored"? How easy is it to send them next door to find out if the neighbor's child can play for a bit.

I know my neighbors. My son has spent hours playing with the boy next door who is near his age. The elderly couple across the street is always happy to visit and let you know if something suspicious has happened in the neighborhood and the retired police officer who lives diagonally from me is not only a source of security, he has been known to mow our lawn when we go on vacation!

Am I glad I know my neighbors? Absolutely. Do I feel better about the street I live on because I know some of the people who share it with me? You bet. Am I going to start making jello molds for a block party? Well, probably not, but you never know. Stranger things have happened!

Welcome!

When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.
~Henry David Thoreau

Hello and welcome! Some of you have probably found your way here from Yes Michigan! or The World We Wish For and are wondering why in the world I would start another blog. Well, this is my new blogging home. I love the other two and those causes are incredibly important to me, but others are too, so here I am. I'm still going to talk about local businesses and building community, but I'm also going to talk about all the other adventures my family and I have while I try to learn to live more deliberately, more intentionally and with true passion and understanding for those things to which I choose to dedicate myself.