Feeling a Bit Down? Seven Things to Help Inspire You
Is daily life really so tough? Well, yes, it can be. Here, though, is to keeping things in perspective. For more than a month now, Patch and Grape-Nuts have teamed up to present stories about your neighbors – neighbors who have faced challenges that would seem insurmountable to many of us. But not to the people we’ve featured in this series, Journeys. Not surprisingly, the stories have generated dozens of comments on Patch and on Facebook: “Great story…” “Thanks for sharing…” “So wonderfully inspiring…” And, so, here they are again. Great stories shared to inspire. Take a look at what these people have faced. Then click on the story to see their responses. And, feel better about things. Local Woman Helps Run Girls Soccer Club in Haiti For Taryn Silver, what began as a 10-day trip to Haiti in 2011 turned into a new home and close to 50 new friends. A former Sharon resident, Silver helps run the Association Sportives des Jeunes Filles de Fond des Blancs (The Sports Association of Young Women of Fond des Blancs), a girls soccer club in the rural town of Fond-des-Blancs, about 70 miles west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The club offers an opportunity that Haitian women rarely get due to lack of funding, time and also due to the cultural roles Haitian men and women often play. ___ Cleanup Organizer Sees a Future of Smaller Footprints Pat Conaway is “kind of a nut” about the environment, and when he retired from teaching in 2008, it didn’t take long for him to find a number of productive ways to spend his time. He now sees hope in the young people who help him clean trails, waterways and roadways. “I wanted to get people fired up about the environment, to try to encourage citizens to get involved locally,” he said. ___ Home Sales for the Love of Rescued Animals Three years ago while on the Internet, Weston real estate agent Leslie Mann read a story on the Internet that horrified her: A female pit bull-type dog named Turtle had been abandoned in a wooded area in the middle of winter. Badly injured, Turtle showed signs of being a bait dog, one used to test the fighting instinct of a potential fight dog. The Animal Rescue League of Boston stepped in to help, and nursed Turtle back to health through six months of treatment at Tufts Veterinary Hospital in Walpole. The story was enough to inspire Mann to raise about $ 6,000 for Turtle’s treatment. And even though Turtle is now on the mend, Mann and her husband, both agents with […]
Every Day is Earth Day: Plant the Seeds, Inspire Children
Earth Day was on April 22, and was celebrated across the entire world. What can we do to show our love of the earth on that day, and every day? Love begins in the home and so does the love for our earth. If you teach your children to respect the earth on every level, they will continue to realize the global impact of environmentalism when they become adults. This is important for the sustainability of life as we know it. Perhaps we can set off that spark in a child, making them want to learn more about the process and do more to help. If we’ve done our part, they might strive to become an environmentalist—professionally or at heart. Inspire children, plant the seeds early on, and they will flourish. We all strive to do “acts of kindness” for our neighbors, to cement better relations locally or worldwide—but perhaps we also need to do “acts of environmental kindness” too, to save our planet. On Earth Day, we celebrate what the earth gives us—the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the trees we use for timber, paper, furniture, and to build our homes. We think about the plants and animals with whom we share the earth. Where do we begin in this teaching process (which we know is a learning process for adults, too) of how to preserve all that we love? Begin with little things. Easy things. Obvious things. Things we take for granted each day, and use and/or abuse because of our lack of knowledge. Let’s start there. Remember that children learn from what we do. There are some wonderful family activities you can do together while learning about the environment. Make a “to do” list and make it fun! Do as many hands-on projects as you can each day to help save the earth in little ways. Have the children keep a chart or journal about everything they do. Here are some suggestions: Indoors: Read books, magazines, websites and newspapers and learn more about the earth. Conserve energy and save water by letting children find (and a parent fix) dripping faucets; only running the dishwasher when full; taking short showers; turning the water off while brushing your teeth; turning off electrical items when not in use; doing full loads of laundry only. Recycle cans, bottles and newspapers. Outdoors: Plant a tree. Plant a garden. Clean up roadside litter. Create a habitat by putting up a birdhouse. Build a compost for food scraps, leaves and lawn clippings. Save rainwater and reuse for outdoor gardens. At School: Urge teachers and […]