This might seem pretty pathetic, but here goes. I moved here 18 months ago. I am a stay-at-home mom, however, all of my children are in school. My oldest son has moderate to severe autism which prevents me from having a regular nine to five job. I am simply looking for another stay-at-home mother or somebody who has some familiarity with my situation to talk to during the day or to get coffee or lunch with.
Some cries for help are loud, clear, and easy to interpret; some cries for help are painfully silent and easy to miss. The day you read on the neighborhood social media site that someone in your neighborhood was literally crying for a friend, you immediately reached out. At the time you were having a garage sale just down the street so you invited her outside to come over and chat. Luckily, this mother of three children took you up on the offer and you became fast friends. Even luckier was the fact that another couple saw both the initial post and your invitation so they came to your driveway as well.
When the couple introduced themselves they explained that they both had severely autistic siblings. Although the couple was older, they could certainly appreciate what your new friend was going through. They encouraged both you and the mother of the autistic son to volunteer at an organization that does equine therapy, a practice that does wonders for people with autism. As it was the last day of the neighborhood garage sales, this couple also suggested that if you wanted they would show you a great place where you could make veterans clothing donations of your remaining items. With an immediate mission, the four of you agreed to meet back in your driveway and work together to make this happen on the last day of the sale.
And just like that, a neighborhood post let to a new friendship and a new goal of making twice a year veterans clothing donations. The added bonus was that the mission to help others actually made the somewhat lonely mother integrate into other organizations. Organizations that focused on helping others.
In the Lowest of Times Helping Someone Else Can Provide a Real Lift
Whether you make the decision to make donations for military families or you decide to donate to another cause, an added benefit of helping others is that it can make your burden seem less heavy. Making veterans clothing donations and other opportunities to for helping families in need have a way of helping you see the bigger picture. Without ignoring your own situation, working with charitable organizations often means that you can take a break from the heavy burden that you bear.
In fact, any time that you take the time to make sure that your unused items are either recycled or reused, you can find comfort in the fact that you are making a positive contribution to this world. In a time when our landfills are overflowing and the average person generates 4.5 pounds of trash every day, we individually generate almost a ton of solid waste a year. Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that although 75% of this solid waste is recyclable, only about 30% is actually recycled.
What are you doing to make a difference? what are you doing to help others? When was the last time you reached out to a neighbor who was in need of a friend? When was the next time you spent your energies helping others? We live in complicated times. And while some families have teenagers who cannot decide which of their favorite pairs of shoes they should wear to school in the morning, other families struggle to find any clean clothes for their children on a daily basis. If you are looking for a way to bridge the gap between the have’s and the have not’s, maybe you should take the time to make veterans clothing donations.
Sometimes it just takes a small, kind action of one person to make an enormous difference in the life of another. Are you ready to take that step, make that move? It is the time!