The Kindness Box

A short appreciation for the reminders of the central pole if kindness that I seek to realize. Whether I fully and carefully read every post or just glance at one, the mantra "remember - kindness" helps bring me back from my worldly turmoil to a better viewpoint.

sun rise said:

A short appreciation for the reminders of the central pole if kindness that I seek to realize. Whether I fully and carefully read every post or just glance at one, the mantra "remember - kindness" helps bring me back from my worldly turmoil to a better viewpoint.

Click to expand...

Glad to be of service - I too need constant reminding - I guess that is why it is called a "practice"!

Suggestions for fighting poverty - at the doing good together website -

Fight Poverty — Doing Good Together™

For example -

Helping the Hungry, a curriculum created by Doing Good Together™, is designed to deepen the food drive experience for children ages 4-10 in your congregation, school, homeschool community, or youth group – and, in the process, inspire increased donations!

Individual families interested in exploring the issue of hunger will enjoy these resources on their own as well.

Hunger Curriculum — Doing Good Together™

All the best!

Another page at that site -

Talk about the issue.

• How would you feel if you had to rely on a stranger to provide your lunch every day?
  
  
• How do you feel when you are hungry and have to wait to eat? How would it feel to experience that sort of hunger every day?
  
  
• What do you think would be the hardest part of not having a home?
  
  
• If you did not have a place to live, what things would be most important to you? Where would you sleep? How would you stay clean?
  
  
• What things are you grateful for? Are these things you need to live or things that are simply nice to have?
  
  
• Watch for opportunities to discuss the topic of poverty beyond these books, perhaps when you see someone on the street asking for a handout, or when you're dropping off a donation at the neighborhood food pantry.
  
  
• Challenge stereotypes and myths about people who are poor. Educate yourself and your children. For example, did you know that 21% of American children live in poverty? To learn more, take the Poverty Quiz with your kids created by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Chapter Books that Raise Awareness about Hunger, Poverty, and Homelessness — Doing Good Together™

Cheers!

At the risk of labouring the point - more recommended books at that site -

Celebrate Love and Generosity Through Story — Doing Good Together™

Ciao!

A recent, kid-friendly art opportunity catalyzed an intriguing conversation with my seven-year-old daughter, Madeline, around money and human dignity. The conversation went something like this:

A Child's Perspective of Money and Human Dignity — Doing Good Together™

Cheers!

Geoff-Allen said:

Another page at that site -

Talk about the issue.

• How would you feel if you had to rely on a stranger to provide your lunch every day?
  
  
• How do you feel when you are hungry and have to wait to eat? How would it feel to experience that sort of hunger every day?
  
  
• What do you think would be the hardest part of not having a home?
  
  
• If you did not have a place to live, what things would be most important to you? Where would you sleep? How would you stay clean?
  
  
• What things are you grateful for? Are these things you need to live or things that are simply nice to have?
  
  
• Watch for opportunities to discuss the topic of poverty beyond these books, perhaps when you see someone on the street asking for a handout, or when you're dropping off a donation at the neighborhood food pantry.
  
  
• Challenge stereotypes and myths about people who are poor. Educate yourself and your children. For example, did you know that 21% of American children live in poverty? To learn more, take the Poverty Quiz with your kids created by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

Chapter Books that Raise Awareness about Hunger, Poverty, and Homelessness — Doing Good Together™

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Do you know that over 21% of U.S. children live in poverty?

– According to the World Bank, 385 million children around the world live in poverty

– Every year, 3.1 million children die (8,500 children per day) due to poor nutrition

354+ per hour every day.

– 1 in 4 children is living in poverty in the world’s richest countries

– 805 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat

– 80% of the world’s population lives on the equivalent of less than $10 a day

– Almost half the world — over three billion people — lives on less than $2.50 a day

Here's a video from the YouTube site -


Enjoy!

Books that help you build empathy

The first time a toddler flips through The Snowy Day or a teen picks up Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, they’re transported to the inner life of another human being. They learn to understand the emotions and challenges that someone else—someone who may be very different from them—is going through. And studies have shown that building empathy for others can help boost our own relationships and positivity.

Reading—literary fiction, in particular—is one of the most powerful tools we have for developing empathy. And that ability to see things through someone else’s eyes is more important than ever, as the country reels from the hurtful effects of centuries of racial injustice and the isolating effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Here, the Happify team shares the books that helped them see the world in a more compassionate way.

Here is the list -

8 Books That Can Help You Build Empathy

Cheers!

From my InBox -

In each generation, we’re asked to discover, through love and suffering, that we are at heart the same and that caring for each other is the one tribe we all belong to. How do we come to this knowledge in our own lives, in our own families, in our own communities? What brings us together and what throws us apart? How do we inhabit what we have in common as well as what makes us unique in ways that deepen our daily practice of service and compassion?

To honor the timeless process and to enliven these questions, the aim of this webinar is to uncover and personalize pathways that bring us together. During these three sessions, we will explore the heartwork required to inhabit our lives by engaging our ongoing relationships to self, other, work, community and Source. The integrity of our heartwork depends on integrating who we are with what we do. and how we care for each other in the face of crisis.

Ours is a complicated era and so we need every resource and example of heart and resilience we can find. In these trying times, we are being challenged to accept and inhabit the spiritual fact that we need each other more than ever.
My hope is that through this time together you will become more intimate with your own true nature and our kinship with all things, that you will leave stronger and gentler as you make your way.

Mark Nepo - spiritual writer, poet, philosopher, healing arts teacher, cancer survivor

Enjoy!

Try - kindness donation support - several - plus suggested - for example -

The following organisations directly support asylum seeking and refugee families and are able to accept material donations.

Comes from this site -

Kindred Kindness: Donate

Cheers!

Help support homeless -

The combined health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted just how important having a home is to our health and wellbeing.

Homelessness services across the country were already “stretched to the seams,” before the pandemic says Homelessness NSW CEO Katherine McKernan.

But the pandemic has brought on new challenges. In the first week following the introduction of the COVID-19 restrictions, as many as 780,000 Australians lost their jobs. Treasury expects unemployment, currently at 5.2 per cent, to hit 10 per cent in the June quarter, which will place further financial pressure on the one million low income Australian households already experiencing rental stress.

Now, more than ever, organisations which work to support people who are homeless need your help.

How you can help Australia's homeless

All the best

Kindness & the virus -

Stories of people emptying supermarket shelves or arguing over packets of pasta can paint a bleak picture of the coronavirus outbreak. But there are also acts of kindness that have inspired thousands of others.

The acts of kindness sparked by coronavirus

Cheers

More about the homeless in this interesting article -

This is a roundabout explanation for how I have since related to the homeless in my neighborhood. I give semi-frequently and without judgment. If the person I make an offering to puts that money towards a night of shelter then that’s great. If he or she chooses to buy a beer instead, then who am I to judge? I enjoy beer, too.

It doesn’t strike me as fruitful to try to determine exactly what sort of person I’m giving to and how he’ll spend my money. I don’t know about you, but more often than not, whatever estimation of character I come up with upon my first meeting with someone, it ultimately proves to be wrong. Instead of passing judgment, when someone asks me for money I look upon it as an opportunity to flex my generosity muscles.

Buddhism and Social Action: How Would Sid Treat the Homeless? | HuffPost

Cheers!

If you are one of the lucky ones, the world of a homeless person is completely foreign from your own. But without the support of friends and family, how many of us could survive something such as the loss of a spouse, a debilitating physical illness, or the loss of employment? Many of the people living on the streets today were struck by a personal tragedy and lacked a support system to get help when they needed it. But you can help right now. By giving of your time, money, services or skills, you can make the difference in the life of a homeless person. Here's how:

9 Ways You Can Help the Homeless

All the best!

No doubt about it, helping others feels good. But there are times in life when even the most giving among us feel like we don’t have one extra minute to spare. We may be saddled with careers or family responsibilities that make it nearly impossible to commit to intensive or ongoing volunteer gigs.

Good news: You don’t have to forego contributing to the world or your community because you’re stretched for time. There are plenty of one-time and bite-sized volunteer opportunities that take only minutes or a few hours to complete and don’t always require you to be on-site. Call it micro-volunteering. Here are 10 ways to make a meaningful difference when you can’t commit to big chunks of time or regular volunteer dates.

Read more suggestions -

How to Help Others When You're Short on Time

Cheers!

-I-A-O- sums it up in 3,
so much more eloquently.

a song for ambience

Volunteer with your kids -

Five-year-old Josie Barnabee, of Libertyville, Illinois, and her 3-year-old brother, Ben, have more "honorary" grandparents than they can count. Since they were babies, they've spent one morning a week at Winchester House, a local nursing home, where they exchange hugs, sing songs, play games, and talk with the elderly residents. "When they walk out of the elevator, the residents come to life," says their mom, Jenny.

The Barnabees aren't alone in their commitment to reach out and help others. Parents with young children are increasingly making volunteering a regular part of their routine, whether it's delivering meals to the homebound, planting flowers at a local park, or spending time with people with disabilities. For busy parents who want to spend time with their kids while still contributing to their community, volunteering as a family is an ideal activity.

Read more here -

Volunteer With Your Kids

Cheers!

Much of the nation's charitable giving occurs between #GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and Dec. 31. But the need for help persists all year long.

If you're in the mood to give, but you worry about how your money will be used (most of us do), keep in mind it’s important not to focus completely on administrative costs as a benchmark for assessing a charity’s success. A certain amount of overhead is necessary for a nonprofit to function and grow its goals. In 2013, several charity watchdog sites wrote an open letter to address the misconceptions around the " overhead myth."

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use robust metrics to vet an organization. You should. But how to begin?

Full article here -

How to Find Charities to Support the Things You Care About

Just scrolling down that page a little - many links - for example -

Home - Children's Defense Fund

About Us - Friends of the Earth

Union of Concerned Scientists

All the best!