How To Improve Your Community

Every community holds events to empower and strengthen people living in them. Why not join a group and you will probably discover that it is not a giant leap to improve the quality of life for others. Whether it’s food baskets, volunteering at a shelter, or even adopting a pet.

Our family wanted to improve the community we live in and decided to start small. Our first event was holding a Thanksgiving Dinner for those less fortunate. That was over twenty years ago, and I still remember the appreciative look on the faces of the people that came to eat.

You see, in those days I really believed it was all about feeding people, but I was wrong and realized it the first time I sat with a disheveled homeless veteran. Between bites, he told me of his fight to stay sober after a year of war. He’d seen atrocities nobody should ever have to witness. Then, he cried as he told me that he’d also been the one committing these acts of violence.

His name was Vincent and I think of him often, because he was instrumental in reminding me that it was never about the food, but the fact that somebody was listening,and this made him feel like he mattered.

So, it’s not how you commit to helping your community. It’s more the fact that you are making the effort to do so and have faith because you will suddenly appear in just the right role, with the right person.

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