Two Cups of Kindness and a Pinch of Caring

We all know someone who is in their "golden years". It may be a neighbor ... a member of our church ... a friend ... a relative. Perhaps it is someone you don't know very well but know they don't get out much or have very many visitors. How many times do you think ... I should stop by to see how they are doing or just to say "hello"? If you are like most people, it happens alot but usually no time is taken to actually put the thought into action. We all have busy lives ... getting the kids off to school or to soccer practice ... fixing that leaking gutter on the house ... meeting up with friends for a bite to eat at the local restaurant. We accomplish many things on a daily basis in our lives at a fast pace yet sometimes we forget to slow down and look at the people who surround us who might not be as mobile as we are and would very much enjoy a kind word, a thoughtful wave, a caring gesture or a short visit. So, it was with this in mind that Therese and I put our baking abilities to work and made up a few muffin and brownie plates to take to some of her elderly neighbors.

Oddly, Therese and I did not plan to engage in this kind of activity this month for our blog. Instead, we had scheduled to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and "deconstruct" the Tomahawk Hills Country Club and salvage usable items for their ReStore store (http://www.restorekc.org/portal/page/portal/ReStore). Unfortunately, by the time it came around for us to go, they had enough volunteers to complete the task in a shorter time than expected. Because of this, we had Plan B, to volunteer in the Kansas City WildLands Ecological Restoration Workday through Bridging the Gap (http://www.bridgingthegap.org/). But, due to the snow we received during the week, this project fell through as well. So, perhaps it was meant to be that we ended up baking goodies for some elderly people who do not get out very much and do not have very many visitors.

We started out baking some delicious brownies that were cut into bite-size pieces. Then, it was on to the muffins ... Cranberry-Orange Nut muffins and Banana muffins. Needless to say, we "sampled" the muffins so that we would make sure that they were tasty enough for them to eat.


The time it took to make the muffins was minimal yet the rewards of making them and the reason for making them were far greater. Today, some unsuspecting elderly people were shown through a simple plate of brownies and muffins that someone was thinking about them and cared. We will probably never really know the impact it had on these individuals but we do have some idea even as we delivered the goodies to them in the pouring rain.

 

If you can read a book, you can read a recipe. If you can sit down to watch a half hour of tv, you can spend the time to sit down with an elderly person and have a thoughtful conversation with them. If you can pick up your newspaper in your driveway in the morning, perhaps you have time to pick up your elderly neighbors and place it on their porch. It is the little things that we can do that will make big differences in other people's lives.

So, what will you do this week? this weekend? this month? Why not stop by one of your elderly neighbors or relatives some time and show them that you care and are thinking of them?

And, for those of you who did not catch our posting at the beginning of the month, be sure to read "Warming the Hearts" our plea for collecting homemade hats, mittens, scarves and lap quilts to be given to organizations that provide the outreach to those in need.

What is your recipe for kindness and giving of your time?