Lucky Pony Party

the other day edger put his finger on my problem…..

and yesterday was just a horrible day for me.

but i had a coupla very good friends remind me, in very different ways, to count my blessings.

you see, i’d forgotten. I’m dizzy from all this spinning….

my friends’ gentle reminders, and some reading i’ve done recently, got me thinking.

that ranting about what is wrong, analyzing every damn word that anyone speaks, fact-checking ….

well, while it feels pretty good & may even change the few who wander in & are wavering in their beliefs….

in all actuality it doesn’t DO a whole lot, its preaching to the choir. And while we all need compatriots to give us props, we need to DO MORE.

Many are already in dire straits, have lost their jobs & homes. Tent cities are springing up nation-wide. We’re heading for another great depression. SOON.

This nofuckingsense bail-out will not help those who’ve lost their house & are in a tent with multiple children & winter coming on.

But WE could change that. WE could build communities again.

It’s not that hard. All it requires is getting out from behind your blue screen, going out into the real world & helping.

Just a little. Not everyday (although that would be grand!) but on a regular schedule, as often as YOU can.

here’s some stuff i do/have done:

i check with the fire dept. and give them stuff i’m getting rid of to help families who’ve lost everything to fires.

i check w/local schools each year & give them warm clean clothes/coats we no longer wear to distribute to poor kids & families. schools/teachers often know better than anyone the true financial state of families.

i buy stuff when its buy-one-get-one-free (canned goods) & put the ‘free’ extras into a box & when its full take it to the school or a church or homeless shelter(usually i alternate, but the shelter has been the recipient lately because its on my path & i don’t have to go out of my way)

we took our extra garden produce to the local shelter weekly. last week i had to tell them that was it for awhile. it made me feel guilty that i had other stuff to do & haven’t planted a fall garden. like i’d let them down.

i know our local shelter has drunks & druggies & ex-cons but, they’re people too & need to eat.

i don’t throw away anything that someone could use.

if i don’t foresee a use, i ask around if anyone i know needs or knows someone who needs it….if not i give it to the recycle store (i think its either salvation army or goodwill)

big stuff i list on freecycle

usually some local organization has a thing each fall/winter to help pay heat bills for poor people. we had to ask for help a couple times. we try to give a bit every month through the winter now.

our local elementary started a school garden, got a feed&seed to donate a greenhouse, took part of a field & put in raised beds. they grow lettuce & spinich year-round, start veggie plants & sell them at spring-fling. they have the school kichen separating out veggie waste for the mulch pile!

empty lots could be turned into community gardens.

prisoners could do gardens…for themselves AND the homeless.

check with your local Food Bank. most of the people that come to the Food Bank these days are working people that just don’t make enough $$ to make ends meet and still feed their families.

♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

PAYING ATTENTION to those around us is the most important thing we can do.

It’s ver ver hard to be down on your luck. Harder still to ask for help.

I know. I’ve been there.

What do YOU do in your community to help out?

Please share your ideas here.

and don’t forget……..