Small Needs, Good Deeds

When you grow up surrounded by love, it takes time to appreciate how fortunate you are. Broken people from broken homes are everywhere. Our world is broken.

I say “our world” because even though my circle growing up may not have overlapped with many other different circles, we all have equal claim to this shared time and space.

I realize that many churches are lame and filled with grumpy, judgmental people. But not all who sit in church pews are rotten people. Some are simple, joyful people who have genuine love in their hearts.

Over the years at two different churches in two different states, I’ve had the pleasure of finding a way around the holidays to reach out and help the less fortunate. I organized several volunteers to put on a Christmas store for struggling families. The parishioners would donate a large inventory of gifts suitable for boys and girls of all ages and we transformed our building into a toy store.

In Missouri we partnered with a local food bank and the families in their database, inviting them to come to our Christmas Store. The parents/guardians were given a designated amount of Monopoly money for each child they were shopping for, and priced the donated gifts accordingly. That way the parents/guardians could still feel a sense of dignity shopping for their kids. We had a free concession stand, free gift-wrapping station, and child entertainment while the adults were busy shopping.

It was a great turnout and we helped roughly 80 families that year. The response from nearly every family that came through was “Thank you so much! I would not be able to give my kids any presents this year if it weren’t for this store.”

In Nevada I took the same concept but extended the invitation to a different neglected group--inmates. We worked with the authorities in a Clark County prison to allow inmates with young kids to be brought to a secure location. There we arranged for the inmates to select a couple gifts for each of their kids and had them gift-wrapped. We invited the families to join us and provided a free catered dinner along with some light-hearted entertainment. But most importantly, the children who would otherwise be without their incarcerated moms and dads on Christmas morning had the opportunity to make some Christmas memories together that night.

Watching them watch their kids open up gifts was priceless. Truth be told, I don’t know that any of the kids were blown away by the toys. But it was clear that the most precious gift for them was getting to spend some time alone celebrating Christmas with the mom or dad they rarely get to see. The cherry on top was hiring a professional photographer to capture the memories, and sending copies of the photos both to the inmates and their kids.

The tearful hugs we received from the inmates was unforgettable. You could see the transformation taking place in their eyes. It was a moment of inspiration for them to rehabilitate, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of those young kids who need their positive influence.

These are examples of good-deed endeavors I’ve been a part of in the past, but they were group efforts. This challenge was asking what an individual can do to give back to our communities.

For those of us who don’t have enormous wealth and weren’t born with whatever trait that made Mother Teresa the way she was, there are still opportunities all around us to incrementally make the world a better place.

2020 was a traumatic year for many around the world, and America was no exception. On top of the hardships of a pandemic, we also had to deal with a contentious presidential election and police brutality riots. Never in my lifetime has our country been so divided.

So this year, given the limitations of social interactions amidst a pandemic, I tried to find small ways to make a difference.

People are lonely. People are scared. People are angry. They need help. They need hope. They need peace.

Whether giving an extra big smile and “hello” in a grocery store aisle or reaching out to an old friend that social media tells me I’m supposed to hate because of who they voted for, I went out of my way to overcome the division with small but deliberate kindnesses. In invited people I knew where lonely and struggling over for a meal. I spent time talking with those ridden with anxieties.

I gave what I could, because at the end of the day people just want to know that somebody cares for them. So whether it is a low income family, or an inmate with kids, or a Trump supporter, or Biden supporter, or someone who lost their job because of Covid, we can make the world a better place by offering friendship. By offering ourselves. I aim to do more of this in the months ahead and would humbly ask you to join me.