I've written before that my one word for 2020 was the word, "Good". While it seems that 2020 has been anything but good, I still believe that there is time to turn this year around.
At my school, a small little middle school in Mississippi, we have a service day planned for this coming week. In years past, we have sent students all around the city and surrounding community to give middle school students a taste of what it means to volunteer and help others. We've gone to nursing homes, places that serve the homeless, places that serve those in need - lots of places to help them see that they can make a difference in their world.
Of course, this year is different. Am I the only one tired of that word, 'different'? This year we can't put students on cheese-wagons and take them around the surrounding areas to paint, sort, clean, etc. to help others. So our innovative administration is thinking outside the box and finding ways our kids can help others. Because it's in helping others that we find our own purpose, our own joy.
So, I'd like to invite you to join us in helping others. Maybe for you, it will be doing something like what I recently read about and you'll "pay it forward" by paying for the person in line behind you in McDonald's. Recently in a small town, customers at a McDonald's started sharing the love to the tune of over 900 people paying it forward! Can you begin to imagine the difference that made? Over 900 people changed the day of the person traveling behind them with a small act of kindness!
As I shared that story with my students, I reminded them that THEY are in control of how 2020 ends. I'll admit that so far, 2020 has not been what I'd imagined and certainly not what I'd have called "good". But there is still time to change all that. There is still time to make 2020 "good".
Our students have the opportunity to help out a place called Worthy Stables - a wonderful place that helps people with disabilities or people suffering from PTSD or those locked inside the trauma that would try to take their lives.
They have the chance to donate to Petal Children's Task Force and help kids, just like them who need food or help with school or a hundred other things.
They have the chance to help with Fieldhouse for the Homeless and help those who never imagined that one day they would live in a tent without a home or a job or the things so many of us take for granted.
They have the chance to brighten the day of those in nursing homes with cards and video concerts and small acts that let people there know they are not forgotten.
They have a chance to make a difference in 2020.
And so do you. Maybe you'll dig into your purse and find some loose change to donate to the red kettle as you leave the store. Maybe you'll check out some of the charities I'll list below and make a donation. (One of my favorites is Worthy Stables!) Maybe you'll pay for the person behind you in the line at McDonald's. Maybe you'll find a way to make 2020 a lot less yuck and end it with a lot more hope.
You make a difference. You really do. Don't' give up hope. 2020 can still be a year of "good".
Don't forget to check out some of the places that you can give this year and make a difference!
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
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