Homestead mailing list

[clhw AT InfoAve.Net (clhw)]

This also holds true with nursing homes and retirement centers where there
are lonely elderly with little to no visitors. I've found that taking a
young child or a puppy (housebroken, preferably!) can brighten up the day
for some people.

My mother, in her 80s, is on a list of people who call others every day to
see if they are up and functioning. It helps with personal contact and
allows them some continued independence. Until recently, she took one day
each week to drive a blind neighbor to have her hair washed, go grocery
shopping, and then out to lunch. It was good for both of them.
Unfortunately, the blind woman has recently died.

It's this personal contact which I believe to be more important than
mailing something off. Of course, if you really know the people to whom you
are sending something, and you also call or write, that is a mood lifter.

Right now, I've had to drop much of this from my life because I'm spending
almost 40 hours a week directing disaster response for an area with a
population of over 100,000. Being able to hand a person a voucher for a
week's worth of food and some clothing when their house just burned helps
them see there is a future and they can begin their own recovery.

I presume the Rez means Native American Reservation? Or does it have
something to do with the military?

>tvoivozhd---yup, do what you can do.  Some of the old ducks in the VA or
>on the Rez  have no family, no surviving friends---visiting them with a
>few useful or interesting gifts lights a candle in their personal
>darkness.  If you can drag along a few others, so much the better, and
>some of them will follow your suit on their own.