Bold Moves Are the Best Moves

If you’re like me and feeling despair each time you hear the news or scroll through your social media these days, I have some advice that may help. Go do something that makes your own community a little better.

This weekend we volunteered through our church at the local food kitchen. We’ve served as a family there several times, but this weekend was more worthwhile than usual. It gave me hope that there are still people who care about the less fortunate, as well as faith in the next generation.

Of the 16 volunteers, ten of them were under the age of 25. My son is 13 and serving in the soup kitchen has been his favorite of all our volunteer activities. He usually gets the coveted job of overseeing the dessert station where diners are delighted with their choices of homemade brownies, mouthwatering cupcakes, or sugar cookies covered in colorful sprinkles, and he gets to sample any leftovers.  

This time, he was assigned to cleaning and sanitizing the trays. When roles were being given, his look of fear wasn’t even close to the anxiety I felt over his appointed duty. This is the kid who takes his plate to the sink after meals at home, but we’re lucky if it gets rinsed and makes it into the dishwasher. We blame ourselves for what we call his “wimpy” chore list. His list is nothing as labor intensive as the ones our Boomer parents doled out to us Gen Xers, but he does have chores.

My first instinct was to become a helicopter mom and relinquish my own salad bar tasks to take over the dishwashing, but luckily, I didn’t.  Another teen with dishwashing experience offered to teach him the tricks he’d learned over time to be efficient and stay somewhat dry during the process.

We served 228 meals that day, and the gratitude of all those that came through the line was satisfying enough. They offered blessings to each of us for providing them with a healthy meal that most of us take for granted. When I had a chance to look up during small breaks in the line, it was even more rewarding to see my son and the other youth fulfilling their jobs without hesitation or complaint.

There are many suggestions all over the internet and podcasts sharing what to do when we feel helpless in a world of so much hate and sadness. Giving back is an old tried and true act that never fails, and hopefully it continues for generations.