What We Can Do

My niece is a teacher who writes a blog about teaching, about her experiences in and out of the classroom, presumably for other teachers to read. I'm not a teacher, but I read her blog because she's my niece and because I'm a learner. And I've learned a good bit from Susan who, incidentally, taught me to make a quilt back in 1986 or so.

Her post today included a link to an article about another teacher, one who does so much more than provide instruction in the Three Rs. The social problem of children living in poverty is far more widespread than I had thought.

I have a friend who responded to a magazine advertisement or article by choosing a couple of needy children in foreign countries and each month she sends a financial contribution through a reputable agency to better the lives of those children. It is what she can -- and wants -- to do. A blog friend who recently went on a mission trip to Central America returned home, so moved by the plight of the children she met there that she arranged a substantial and meaningful Christmas gift for one family. It was what she could do.

This past Thanksgiving when all of my kids were gathered, I produced an immense bag of hygiene products from hotels to see if anyone wanted them. Immediately my daughter thought of her friend who is a school nurse. Sometimes kids come to school not just hungry, but dirty. This nurse gives them things to help remedy that. Sherry thought that she could make little hygiene kits out of these little bottles of things, kits that might appeal to the recipients and after counting and sorting, she and one of her sisters-in-law went out to the local drug store to buy toothbrushes and toothpastes to supplement and then they all had fun making a dozen hygiene kits using ziplock bags.  It was what she could do, and she involved others.

My circle sister who also is a school nurse asked us one autumn if we would bring in sweatpants and sweatshirts for her to give to kids who are cold. We brought them, and we brought socks and underpants, too. And the circle regularly, twice each year, supports a local agency that provides clothing for a local clinic to distribute to moms of infants, moms who don't have the means to supply their babies with everything they need. While most of the circle moms are grandmothers who have ready access to outgrown clothing, we also enjoy shopping for little things either at the rummage sale or in the store. I make sure there are a couple of baby quilts included in each semi-annual ingathering. It's what I can do.

This morning, after reading Susan's blog and the article she shared, it occurs to me that when I hear of a need, I do what I can. The next step, of course, is to not just hear of needs, but to seek them out and to be ready to respond. To make an extra baby quilt. To pick up a toothbrush at the grocery store every now and again, to have on hand for the next time we make hygiene kits. To ask my circle sister how we can help her kids this year. To do what we can.