By now, you have come across at least one story of random acts of kindness as communities help each other to weather the pandemic. If nothing else, the pandemic has taught us - community. From selfless medical workers separated from their families for weeks on end to communities rallying behind restaurants to keep them going. We have all done our part and felt great. But have we really? Have we stopped to think about what happens two weeks after our outpouring of love? Three weeks later? Two months later?
While we certainly do not want to overwhelm ourselves by trying to get ahead of our communities' needs (which is impossible), there are effortless and automated ways we can help. The challenge of being consistent with our help and philanthropy is a real one because hunger and poverty do not go away. It is because of this that we have gathered some ideas of how you can consistently help without burn out:
Make recurring donations to Non-Profits. Rather than wait for the annual fundraising drive, automate your payments for monthly withdrawals.
Start a neighborhood Business Support Group. Many small businesses operate within large neighborhoods. When you start a business support group within your community, everyone becomes a part of the story as they patronize the industry and raise awareness for others to do so. This is especially helpful for restaurants.
Order meals in advance for someone. Rather than ponder the logistics of daily food delivery, work with companies already doing this and order in advance. Not all restaurants offer this, but places like Venice on Vine in Cincinnati accept food orders up to 7 days away and in advance for a week or more.
Mentor a youth or business owner- without leaving the comfort of your home, you can sign-up to virtually tutor or assist students struggling with online learning. For new businesses, organizations like SCORE have been conducting online business mentoring. So if you are a retired executive who's tired of doing nothing, now might be a good time to help a new business owner figure out their business.
Just do your part - can you imagine how quickly this might have been all over if from the beginning we had done what was asked of us - wear masks and wash our hands? It's a great thing that vaccines are finally here, but we believe the least costly and safe thing you can still do is just to wear a mask when you are in public!
By Clara Matonhodze Strode, Founder, The Multicultural Solutions Agency