I've felt real challenged to find ways to express my charitable spirit after getting CFS. Over the years I've come up with a few ideas that work well for me and I present them here to inspire. Please send me your ideas and experiences so I can post them to inspire others. We all have different abilities and disabilities - we should be able to find something for everyone.
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My friend, Kat, and I created a self-perpetuating, random act of kindness, pay-it-forward kind of gig to create a legacy for Peter, a friend of Kat's who grew dahlias and gave them to his friends by the fistful in summer. What a lovely gesture. Flowers make people happy.
Kat has divided Peter's dahlias over the years and now we give the offshoots (tubers) away in exchange for a commitment to randomly give away the cut flowers and tubers so that Peter's Garden continues to grow. In our first year Peter's dahlias were planted as far away as Norway!
We like thinking that Peter is still giving his flowers away, spreading joy and neighborliness through us and every Peter's Garden client. It's a good feeling to bring a bouquet to a friend or leave one with the postal worker when you go in to buy stamps.
Peter's Garden gives me a several-week window to dig up the tubers and if I can't do it, they can wait until the next year. Here on the West coast dahlias bloom for 4-5 months, giving me lots of time to feel good enough to cut flowers to give away. It's very flexible, which is the perfect formula, of course.
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There is a an Asian tradition I've heard many versions of. In all of them, one folds origami paper cranes. I've heard that if you fold 1000 cranes on a wish, it will come true. I've also heard of folding 10,800 cranes as a prayer or offering. The 108 beads in a mala represent the sacred cycles of the cosmos and the 10,800 breaths we take each day. Considering that these numbers have sacred meaning in some cultures, I often fold 108 cranes for loved ones who are in need of support. It's a quiet way to give love.
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Stay in Touch
I am on a serious mission to revive the art of handwritten letters. Remember those? I can still feel the happiness and eager anticipation when I found a handwritten letter in my mailbox. On yellow, lined legal paper. And several pages long. in real ink from a pen. Just a friend going on and on about her life. Nowadays the only handwritten envelopes in my mailbox are from my auto insurance agent (no offense, Rod).
Be a seriously fabulous friend and send long handwritten letters to people. You may not feel strong enough to visit in person or talk long on the phone. And it might take you weeks to finish a letter. It will be a joy for someone to receive, however, and they might even send you one back which would be a joy for you and then we're all doing good in the world, right?
I know there are a lot of lonely elderly people in this world.
Volunteering
It can be pretty easy to find one-time only volunteer gigs. I help sort books for my library's book sale twice a year. I've volunteered to help out when the AIDS quilt came to my area. I've fostered kittens in my home for a local animal shelter - they are no trouble, absolute joy, clean and just around for a couple of weeks. I didn't do the unweaned kitties, though. They require bottle feedings around the clock! I've also made follow-up phone calls to families who adopted pets from the shelter to make sure everything was going okay. Volunteers are often needed to help with native habitat restoration and cleaning up waterways. If you have trees on your property that produce a lot of saplings, you can donate them to groups that are replanting urban areas. You can find these groups through your city or county council or in local non-profit listings. They will often come and dig the saplings themselves.
© 2006 Diane Kerner All materials on this site, including images, are protected by copyright law and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written consent of Diane Kerner
"Roses for Dianeeee" by Keith Kerner. Site design by Peapod
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