Living in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood - December 8, 2018
(I wrote this Thursday, December 6. It was just going to be a Facebook update, but it grew into a story.)
I really am living in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. I did nothing to merit this and I am so very grateful. To quote Rev. Fred…
“It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor...”
So this morning, I go for my slow jog (slog) and there are other gals out walking – in groups – encouraging each other!!! (You don’t want to hear about how wonderful BodyPump 99 is, or what it’s like to swim in an outdoor pool in December – so I won’t talk about that.)
And then I sharpen 26 pencils – pencils bought with Granny Dollars from my Mom – for a Grade Two class full of kids who are so poor they will be THRILLED to get a bright shiny pencil. THRILLED to get a free book. THRILLED to get half an hour of one-on-one attention. It’s so heart-warming.
And then an email arrives about “Green Valley’s Got Talent.” GVGT is pretty much an all volunteer group. They showcase local talent (including my hubs – so I confess to some bias) AND donate proceeds to struggling arts/music groups/schools. https://www.gvgtalent.org/
After lunch, I stop by C’s. C is chair of our Activities Committee here at Green Valley RV Park and never stops working on behalf of others here. Not only that, she collects for the Women’s and Children’s Shelter here in Green Valley and for a Meals Mission in Nogales.
So I pick up stuff from her – but I already have in our car two GIGANTIC hampers full of necessities for mommies and babies. This was put together and donated by a very awesome Christmas Elf in our trailer park. A retired nurse-midwife, she knows what is needed.
I take the goods over to DAZEE’s which is a place run by volunteers in support of Hand of a Friend – the area women’s and children’s shelter. http://gvsvolunteering.org/organization/dazees-hand-of-a-friend/ The volunteers immediately take the hampers over to the Shelter. They are DELIGHTED! (They have to scramble for everything.)
Off I go to volunteer for Reading Seed – a program that helps kids who are having challenges reading. I’ll call “my” school “Jelly Bean Happy School” for confidentiality reasons. Anyways, I meet up with my co-volunteer B. in the parking lot. B puts so much into his reading sessions. He truly wants to help kids escape the “JK to Jail” pipeline that happens when kids can’t keep up, and drop out of school and get pulled into gangs. And he would know, being a retired Public Defender.
And then to the 99 Cent store for stockings and stocking stuffers. There is a compassionate group of folks at my AZ home church who are donating money to help two lovely legal refugee families in our community. These families are fleeing violence in a country in S. America – and fleeing having their sons recruited-by-force to gang violence. The parents are so hard working and the kids are super studious.
*****
I get to do the “kid at the candy store” stuff, but I know of folks who do grueling volunteer work – things like trying to keep a dilapidated mission in another country going, combing the desert for people who may have run out of water, bringing practical help to folks living in poverty and violence, and trying to provide humanitarian care to families who are waiting to have their refugee appeals heard.
Here is what Mr. Rogers says of them – and I agree.
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
Amen, brother Fred. Amen!
I really am living in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. I did nothing to merit this and I am so very grateful. To quote Rev. Fred…
“It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor...”
So this morning, I go for my slow jog (slog) and there are other gals out walking – in groups – encouraging each other!!! (You don’t want to hear about how wonderful BodyPump 99 is, or what it’s like to swim in an outdoor pool in December – so I won’t talk about that.)
And then I sharpen 26 pencils – pencils bought with Granny Dollars from my Mom – for a Grade Two class full of kids who are so poor they will be THRILLED to get a bright shiny pencil. THRILLED to get a free book. THRILLED to get half an hour of one-on-one attention. It’s so heart-warming.
And then an email arrives about “Green Valley’s Got Talent.” GVGT is pretty much an all volunteer group. They showcase local talent (including my hubs – so I confess to some bias) AND donate proceeds to struggling arts/music groups/schools. https://www.gvgtalent.org/
After lunch, I stop by C’s. C is chair of our Activities Committee here at Green Valley RV Park and never stops working on behalf of others here. Not only that, she collects for the Women’s and Children’s Shelter here in Green Valley and for a Meals Mission in Nogales.
So I pick up stuff from her – but I already have in our car two GIGANTIC hampers full of necessities for mommies and babies. This was put together and donated by a very awesome Christmas Elf in our trailer park. A retired nurse-midwife, she knows what is needed.
I take the goods over to DAZEE’s which is a place run by volunteers in support of Hand of a Friend – the area women’s and children’s shelter. http://gvsvolunteering.org/organization/dazees-hand-of-a-friend/ The volunteers immediately take the hampers over to the Shelter. They are DELIGHTED! (They have to scramble for everything.)
Off I go to volunteer for Reading Seed – a program that helps kids who are having challenges reading. I’ll call “my” school “Jelly Bean Happy School” for confidentiality reasons. Anyways, I meet up with my co-volunteer B. in the parking lot. B puts so much into his reading sessions. He truly wants to help kids escape the “JK to Jail” pipeline that happens when kids can’t keep up, and drop out of school and get pulled into gangs. And he would know, being a retired Public Defender.
And then to the 99 Cent store for stockings and stocking stuffers. There is a compassionate group of folks at my AZ home church who are donating money to help two lovely legal refugee families in our community. These families are fleeing violence in a country in S. America – and fleeing having their sons recruited-by-force to gang violence. The parents are so hard working and the kids are super studious.
*****
I get to do the “kid at the candy store” stuff, but I know of folks who do grueling volunteer work – things like trying to keep a dilapidated mission in another country going, combing the desert for people who may have run out of water, bringing practical help to folks living in poverty and violence, and trying to provide humanitarian care to families who are waiting to have their refugee appeals heard.
Here is what Mr. Rogers says of them – and I agree.
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
Amen, brother Fred. Amen!