Ready to Serve
Touching the heart of a family with tangible love
Sometimes I think my tips come from being frugal, other times I think I might be lazy! I hope you find some things you can use. Most of the time, I am providing small amounts of food, like in sickness or in helping the elderly. For big meals, I am so fortunate to have some friends that I can call on to help pull things together. Often this is just a social media post.
I had a student (adult) who was recovering from carpel tunnel surgery. She had a sister in the area with two elementary age sons about to undergo surgery herself. There was a hardworking husband in the mix. I found out about the need as both lamented the loss of their mother who was always there to help. Social media posts are great! I sent a private message to the student. She connected me to her sister. I offered to bring food for the month of her recovery by way of freezer meals. Then I made my social media post, no names of course.
The people in my network rallied. They took my idea to help and brought it to the next level. We had sandwich bread for lunches with peanut butter and jelly. We had lunch meat, lunchables, breakfast cereal, milk, frozen casseroles of every kind both bought and homemade. It was a glorious outpouring of concern for a perfect stranger. I took over two weeks of food and then went back with two more weeks. With more casseroles and to replenish juices and milk, etc. This young mother could guide the boys from her bed on the couch and Dad could toss the main course in the oven with ease.
The gratitude was genuine. I think that happens when people do the unexpected. When we expect others to do something for us, our expectations are often unreasonable and we grumble more than we express heartfelt gratitude.
Those two days when my husband and I took food are the only two days we have ever seen the family. Did it make a difference? Was it worth the expense and effort? Yes! When I run into the contributors, they often express how much it meant to help a stranger. So yes, it helped us connect with our humanity: our community.
