Caring Coupons

Welcome to Service – The Action Form of Love

Most of us know someone who has been negatively affected by the recent downturn in the economy.

My neighbors, Dan and Barbara accepted his company’s offer to relocate him to Utah – several hundred miles away from where they call home. Once they got here, signed a yearlong lease and unpacked, his company laid him off. Now he’s stuck.

There are other stories. You know them. Your friends and family or even you may be living one of them.

What can we do to help?

The aim of this blog has always been to focus on small and simple acts of service. I don’t have the money to help Dan and Barbara move back to Alabama. But there are little things you and I can do to help folks survive and make their days go by just a little more smoothly.

As a child, my parents were always teaching us about serving others. One of the best examples I experienced was around Christmastime as a young boy. I am one of 8 siblings, so sometimes Christmas could get pretty pricey unless you got really creative.

At a Family Home Evening, our parents suggested we all make coupon books to give to one another. The booklets, designed by us, were meant to give little acts of service to each other rather than material gifts. The idea was to make Christmas last longer than a few cold December days.

One coupon in a book for my older brother might say that I would wash his car on any Saturday he chose. Another would tell mama that I would wash the dinner dishes without arguing whenever she wanted to redeem the coupon.

You get the idea.

Would this work to help someone you know who has fallen on hard times?

Yes.

So, here’s your challenge for today:

Decide on someone you know who is having a rough time. Design a simple coupon book specifically for things you know they need. Once you’ve made the book, take it to them with a freshly baked loaf of bread or maybe some cookies. Tell them how the book works. Let them know that they can call on you to help them.

Could you give them a coupon book to use when they really need help? Maybe it would help them reach out and ask for help when they would otherwise try to “get by” in silent pride.

Maybe you could offer to wash their car.

Maybe you could offer to mow their lawn?

How about a coupon to drive their kids somewhere? Or to drop off and pick up their dry cleaning? What about a coupon for a picnic lunch on a weekend they choose?

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Small and simple is the way to go.

You can be creative. You know your friends and family and neighbors and what their needs are.

Can you do this?

I believe you can.

I’m grateful for your generosity in wanting to help others. You, my friend, make a difference.

If you’ve read this far, I’m offering you a coupon, too. Here’s how it works. Simply go to the comments section of my blog and enter a comment. Tell me your first name and city and state or country, and tell me about your favorite service deed or act, whether you were the server or the served.

Make sure I have a way to contact you. I’d like to get in touch with you and ask you some questions. Then, with your permission, I’d like to blog about your experience.

Thanks for reading and taking today’s challenge! Thanks for being willing to help others. You matter by making others matter, too.

Truly, Service is the Action form of Love

James

Caring

Welcome to Service – The Action Form of Love.

Here we are on another Monday.

Many of us spend the morning rushing to get ready for school or work or to stay home and take care of the home. We have doctor appointments, haircuts, got to get the kids off to school.

In short, Monday is often our most hectic day of the week.

So, since neither of us has a lot of time to spend here, I’m putting today’s small and simple service challenge right here:

Today, care.

We ask so much from so many. Even our prayers can sound like a pizza delivery order, telling God what we want and need, but not bothering to thank Him for all He’s done. We just place the order, and hang up the phone and… wait.

Today, find someone you ask a lot of. It could be an assistant, it could be someone in your family or religious organization.

Then, when you’ve identified them, shock them.

Ask what you can do for them. Wait for their response. Let them know you’re serious.

And then, of course, help them.

That’s all there is to it!

Please feel free to share this however you can.

Oh, and if there’s something I can do for you, please let me know.

Remember, Service is the Action Form of Love.

James

Give on Service Thursday

It’s Service Thursday again.

Yesterday, your challenge was to think about and identify someone in your neighborhood who is enduring some sort of hardship.

(If you missed yesterday’s post, please follow this link): http://serviceafol.blogspot.com/2008/10/your-neighborhood.html

Today, I’d like to follow up on that.

What did you find?

Did you find someone in need?

If you did, have you considered how you can help them?

Do they need you to go to the store for them?

Do they need food?

Do they need resources above what you can help with? (If this is true, try calling 2-1-1 and you should be able to find resources to help them).

For today’s challenge, can you gather a box of food for them? We all need food, even if we’re struggling with other hardships.

Or, you can make it a care package with a mix of food and non-food items.

It doesn’t have to be a big box. It can be a regular sized grocery box, or even a shoebox if that’s all you can manage to collect for them.

The idea here is not to give so much food that it puts you in a hardship, too. The idea is to share what you have – even if it’s just a gallon of milk and a box of crackers.

You also don’t have to do this alone. Call a friend or relative to help you.

And, when you deliver it, you can do so anonymously, if you like.

Or, you can greet them at the door and offer to help put the food away for them.

You can even offer to cook! (But again, remember to allow them their dignity. Feel the situation out so you’re not making them feel like a service project. You want them to feel better for knowing who you are, not worse).

Here are some foodstuffs that work well for situations like these:

Peanut butter
Canned tunafish
Crackers
Milk
Canned milk
Fresh fruit
Canned fruit and vegetables
Tortillas
Bread
Margarine
Lunchmeat
Baby food
Cookies
Fruit juice

Non food needs (These things you can take over in a laundry basket):

Diapers
Toothpaste
Soap
Paper towels
Towels
Laundry detergent
Dish detergent
Paper plates
Plastic utensils
A 3x5 card with your name and phone number
If they have children, you can throw in a coloring book and crayons


Use your imagination for other ideas. Have fun with it!

But do it.
Today.
Someone may be hungry and waiting for you.

Thank you for reading and taking today’s challenge.

As always, please pass it on. Stumble this. Digg this. Retweet and repost this and link back to it.

I appreciate you!

Remember, Service is the Action Form of Love!

James