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Stuff to do…
As the winter is starting to set in and the holiday season is upon us, it’s important to remember that this time of year doesn’t feel safe and cozy (not to mention wonderful and magical) for everyone. For the people in our community struggling with food insecurity, we want to encourage you to pay closer attention. Listen to others, look for clues, and think of unique ways you can help. We are working on identifying some new ways to support food insecurity this season, so be on the lookout for those, but in the meantime, if you see a need, do anything you can to help. It takes a village; let’s be one for each other.
Things to celebrate…
After just experiencing our first big winter storm, let’s celebrate the local linemen from our power company. Being without power is scary, dark (obviously), and unnerving, especially when the temps drop. It’s hard, challenging work to restore line functionality in an ice storm, and it’s extremely dangerous. If you get a minute, send a quick thank you note to your power company’s front-line workers and thank them for their diligence in keeping us powered up.
News to know…
According to www.ndcompass.org, the median age in Oakes is 38.8 years. One of the key trends that sociologists use to articulate the vibrancy and health of a community is the median age. Typically, the lower the median age, the better. In fact, many of their best tips for people in community development relate to actively taking measures to support the reduction of the median age. Oakes having such a low median age already is a surprising and awesome fact about our small town! We are clearly encouraging the return of young people and that is something we must continue if we want to trend in the right direction!
Ideas to spread…
As we get into the season of thanksgiving, it’s always fun to consider the specific ways we each can offer random acts of kindness to the people we do life with. You can Google a list and find all sorts of ways to do special out-of-the-blue things for others and that’s a great place to start. We’d also love for each and every one of us to consider the gifts we’ve been given and how we can steward those forward to help others. If you’re not great at baking, don’t feel compelled to bake. If you’re not great at physically caring for other people, don’t feel guilty about that. Maybe your gifts are musical, related to writing, lifting heavy objects, or making people laugh. There are countless ways to extend kindness to others and if it comes from a genuine place of giving versus a place of guilt, it’ll be both given and received more beautifully. Steward your gifts well, friends.