Ideas for Loving Your Community (when you're supposed to stay home)
I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time doing nothing but staying home when all I want to do is love on my community during this weird and hard time. I’m immune-compromised so the reality is I can’t volunteer in the ways I’d like to.
We’ve all grown up knowing we need to get out there and make a difference in the world by serving others. But now making a difference + serving others remains within the boundaries of our homes. The more I think about it though, the more I’ve realized there are LOTS of ways we can still love on our neighbors from home…but it needs to first start with our families.
Mother Teresa said a LOT about this very concept:
“The way you help heal the world is that you start with your own family.”
. . .
“It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.”
. . .
“If you want to bring happiness to the whole world, go home and love your family.”
I mean, wow, right?? Before we think about helping our community in other ways than simply staying home (and flattening the curve)…
We need to realize that though this virus is horrible, we have been given a gift.
We are home with our family. Friends, activities, sports, and all the chaos of a busy life are suddenly off the table. Our normal distractions have disappeared. We have the ability for engaged conversation, quality time with our kids and spouse. We can infuse new structure and intentionality into our days!
We’ve started doing morning meditation, yoga, and family walks. Our days are intentionally structured so we have breaks at the same time, lunch at the same time, and even do chores together. For goodness sake, yesterday I swept the kitchen floor while the girls took turns pushing me on a rolling office chair!
I mean, let’s make it fun and goofy! Let’s invest in our families and make memories!
That being said, we do need to consider this other quote by Mother Teresa…
“The problem with our world is that we draw the circle of family too small.”
Who is your family?
Your kids? Your parents? Your husband and cousins?
What about your community and your neighborhood?
We’re big on loving our neighbors over here and want to live the kind of life where we’d consider our community as family. What do I mean by that? Well, granted these examples are PRE-COVID-19 but I’ll get to our current situation in a minute:
On the first day of school, we do a big pancake breakfast for the neighborhood kids in our front yard so they can all walk to school together (this has been especially impactful for new kids, knowing they’re not showing up alone on the first day).
After school on the first day, we set up popsicles in a big cooler so they have a place to congregate after a big (and sometimes stressful) day
On Halloween, we set out a beautiful table and outdoor heaters in our front yard and serve spiked cider and appetizers for the adults as kids come by for candy.
The last day of school we set out slices of watermelon and tubs and tubs of water balloons for an all-out water fight (one time my husband accidentally tagged a high school girl passing by, oops! ahahaha).
During the summer we’ll do outdoor movie nights in our backyard with a sheet and the projector from my husband’s office.
Sometimes I just put balloons in our front yard for no reason at all…because why not?! Balloons make everyone smile.
The list goes on, but you get the idea.
So what can we do RIGHT NOW…when we’re supposed to stay home and healthy?
Here are a few ideas:
Set up a trading post in your front yard. We went through all our books, games, and puzzles to find ones to give away. After sanitizing them, we set them out in a couple bins next to the sidewalk with a note that said “LET’S TRADE! W’re all in this together, right? …so let’s keep supporting one another. bring one + take one” (see pic).
Another neighbor went around the block dropping off ziplock-bags filled with face masks and latex gloves for each family.
Another neighbor sent a text around acknowledging that some of the older folks in our neighborhood will likely get sick (or be too nervous to leave the house at all) and who would be interested + able to grocery shop for them.
We realized we had an ample supply of Clorox wipes and toilet paper so we put those on the sidewalk with a note that said take what’s needed.
Scavenger hunts for kids have gotten big (maybe in your neighborhood, too!) and we’ve gotten texts asking to put a stuffed animal in our front windows or paint a rainbow (more on the rainbow idea in a few days!!). Some kids are doing big, beautiful, or silly sidewalk chalk creations with encouraging words and phrases.
Simply acknowledging that we’re all in this together (and not alone) feels huge, doesn’t it?
There are many, MANY other ways to help others in your area. I wish my health was better and I could serve in other areas and with those less fortunate than we are.
But I’m just so happy to bring a smile (and some silliness!!) to those in our home…as well as those in our neighborhood.