Daily writing prompt

What do you do to be involved in the community?

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Honestly, not enough. This was one of my goals or resolutions a couple of years back after reading Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk. The grand finale in that book, the big drumroll at the end was the idea or concept of “service”. And it was something that, at that point in my life, I did not take part in. Serving others. Apparently it’s the ultimate key to self fulfillment.

And so I started. I saw an ad in our local paper requesting new members apply to sit on the board of directors for the women’s shelter. I applied and got on. So for two years now I’ve been a board member, regularly attending the meetings. It’s not a big deal, not a huge offering. But it’s something.

I also started a non-profit organization, called The Sidney Project. This was inspired by our son who joined our family at eighteen months old through the foster care system. His home community is very remote and isolated, fly in only during most of the year and is plagued by social problems. Poverty, overcrowding, suicide, unemployment, just to name a few. We fell in love with Sid so hard and every single day we marvel at this beautiful little boy that we are fortunate enough to be able to love and care for. As soon as we can adopt him, we will.

And so I wanted to do something to create a tiny bit of happiness for his home community. After doing some research, I decided that collecting brand new, brand name school shoes for the kids in school there, would be the best option. So that’s what we do. I started The Sidney Project just over a year ago and to date have shipped up (via air) approximately one hundred pairs of brand new, brand name shoes.

My hope is that the kids in school there will each at some point receive a new pair of these shoes and it puts a smile on their faces and gives them a reason to keep coming back to school each and every day. Not just “good enough” Walmart shoes, but super cool brand name shoes that they can be really proud of.

It’s not much but it’s something. And my hope is that Sid will help out with this once he’s old enough. He’ll eventually understand that he was the inspiration behind it and he’ll feel good knowing we did something to help his community.