Lending A Helping Hand

Photo Courtesy of International Orthodox Christian Charities

Lending a hand.........................

Were you brought up in a household that encouraged helping out those less fortunate?  Have you carried that concept into your won adult life?  And have you noticed how good it feels?!

When I was young, my Mom used to drag my sister and me to downtown Chicago where we would deliver whole meals to people (Meals on Wheels).  I use the term "drag" because if you had asked either one of us, it probably wasn't high on our list of things we wanted to do on a Saturday afternoon.  Going shopping in the suburbs and eating lunch at Cock Robin would have been our preference, if anyone had asked us.  But no one did, so off we went to some scary homes and apartments in the heart of the City.  I was often struck by  how neat and clean some of the apartments were of the folks we delivered the food to.

After church, we took the flowers to nursing homes and I vividly remember the stench of the hallways and was glad we were bringing a better smell to those places.  We stuffed envelopes for fundraisers, we cleaned and painted homes for people from a sister church group from a poor rural area.  There were so many "opportunities" presented to us as kids, I think I just got used to this kind of lending a hand to others as routine.

When I got older and had children of my own, I found many ways to introduce the notion of lending a hand to others for the kids.  Plus, our schools and church had the kids running from one volunteer opportunity to another.

Now that the children have left the nest, I find this empty nester involved in new events like the recent fundraiser for Special Olympic of Arizona. I have recently been introduced to the valiant efforts of the IOCC, that offer emergency relief and development programs around the world. But I also have found giving a helping hand at the micro level is very important.  Helping family members around you is very rewarding.   Sometimes, being super supportive of your spouse is where you need to spend a majority of your time and effort.

Whatever you do, keep it as a part of your daily routine.  Make it apart of your children's routine.  Lend a helping hand every day.  It just feels right!