When Your Community Is In Need
When your community is in need, you step up. You do what needs to be done. You may ask some questions and seek to get a solid understanding of both what the situation is and what the needs are. You look around you at the people that you have come to care about. Some of these people are connected to the businesses that you have come to know and frequent. Some of them are people that you pass every so often at the grocery store or the post office. Many of the people in your community are your neighbors, friends, family, and professional service providers that you have worked with on many things.
When your community is in need, you step up. Perhaps you find a way to help such as donating food, time, blood, or needed items to different organizations and charities. Perhaps you reach out to the schools and find out if they need volunteers or tutors. Perhaps you send a donation somewhere. Perhaps you look at what you as an individual or a business owner have to offer. And then, you step up.
This past week was full of individuals stepping up. This ranged from children collecting personal protective equipment or running errands for elderly neighbors. It included the New England Patriots cutting through red tape and sending their airplane all the way to China to pick up needed medical supplies. Dolly Parton has started reading bedtime stories. Musicians are coming together or performing individually in living rooms across the country and around the world. Professional trainers are putting out workout videos on YouTube and professional athletes who have survived COVID-19 are donating plasma to scientists developing treatments and vaccines. And then, there are the medical professionals who are getting up every day and putting on their scrubs heading to the frontlines to care for their growing number of patients.
When your community is in need, you step up. Think for a moment about what you can do. It doesn’t have to be a team plane sent all the way to China to make a difference (although if you are a team owner or other individual who happens to own a plane or two and you are reading this, maybe you could consider that as a viable option). It can be something as small as sending a letter or making a phone call. If you have some extra money and can afford to do takeout from a local restaurant, eat a nice meal you don’t have to cook at home and leave them a nice tip for their work. Order something from a local shop who has switched to doing curbside or online orders. Post something on social media or another website that is uplifting. Do something. Doing something is going to help you to feel better and it’s going to make a difference for somebody. We are all in this together and we will get through this together. Imagine what is possible when a community is in need and every member of that community steps up in some way. Your community is in need right now. What will you do to step up?