Sometimes it surprises me when I hear about a family struggling and find
that no one has offered to lend a hand. We
wanted to help raise awareness regarding needs and our ability, even with
limited income, to help. When my husband
dropped our second grade daughter off at school today he looked back to see in
horror that she slipped and fell walking in.
Right away several little girls and one teacher went to help her on her
feet. As children we seem to do this
more instinctively than as adults. We’ve all seen situations where we’ve jumped in to help
and have wondered why others were just walking past.
I took an opportunity through social media to get feedback on how you help
others aside from financial assistance.
I like the answers we heard.
When we can’t afford to
help... I understand that budgets are tight for all of
us and certainly many of us can’t afford to write a check to help someone else,
but there are many ways to help that don’t necessarily mean money out of the
budget. Here are some of the ideas we
heard:
·
If you are retired or a
stay at home parent you can offer to watch the kids for someone trying to find
a job. If they’re out of work they
probably can’t afford childcare.
·
For those in business- Often
the currently employed are at the top of the stack of resumes when hiring, but
this doesn’t mean they are the most desirable, the most capable, or the most
motivated. ALWAYS give equal
consideration to those not currently employed.
The fear is that they will more likely take a job even if it’s
unsuitable because of desperation only to leave when something better comes
along, but if we’re doing our jobs in researching candidates we should be able
to find some real jewels in those out of a job.
·
If you do repair work you
have an amazing charitable opportunity.
If you spent just one lunch break a week to help someone with a repair
they can’t afford you would be doing an amazing service to your community. Even better, with a few phone calls you may
find a parts company willing to assist your efforts by providing assistance
with parts. If not, we bet someone in
the community would help cover the part if you covered the labor.
·
If you aren’t in the home
and can’t help with childcare, have no hiring authority, don’t have the repair
skills to replace a battery, and have no financial means to help, there’s still
something you can do. Sometimes all we
have to share is a smile, a kind word, and a caring hand to help someone up
that has slipped and fallen.
We can all help in some way if we’re
willing. Thank you to the Lovin’ friends
who contributed ideas. We appreciate all
that you do in your communities and we’re sure they appreciate you, too.
