I love the idea of practicing Random Acts of Cookies.
This was my inspiration to tackle one of my goals on My Life List, to Take Baked Goods to a Nursing Home. There's a nursing home down the block from my house which always makes me a little sad because so many people there spend time sitting outside watching the traffic on Ridge. It's a pretty busy thoroughfare for cars in our neighborhood, but it always strikes me as a bit of a depressing view. It's certainly not a nursing home with a lovely view of the lake, though it does have a modest view of a park across the four lanes of traffic. I guess it's not as bad as it could be.
Turns out the biggest hurdle is finding a place where it's actually possible to donate homemade food. Apparently if it's any place that is state regulated (which is probably all nursing homes), then you can't. It's a reasonable restriction of course. It means I'm going to have to get creative in order to achieve my life list goal. Going to have to think about this goal some more.
In the meantime, our block club (for which Nathan and I are officers) decided to volunteer at the local food pantry. It was a really great date night actually, and we're planning to head back again to bring by some things for the organization's clothes closet sometime in the next week or two. If you have one near you, I certainly recommend your trying it out.
I'll just have to practice my Random Acts of Cookies on other people who are unprotected by government health codes. Maybe I'll save that for the neighbors in those dull winter months that seem to be right around the corner after the holidays. I'll give people time to set their goals of losing weight and getting healthy in the new year and then, Bam! They'll find a plate of salted caramel brownies waiting eagerly at their front door. Hmm, that seems a bit un-neighborly, doesn't it?
This was my inspiration to tackle one of my goals on My Life List, to Take Baked Goods to a Nursing Home. There's a nursing home down the block from my house which always makes me a little sad because so many people there spend time sitting outside watching the traffic on Ridge. It's a pretty busy thoroughfare for cars in our neighborhood, but it always strikes me as a bit of a depressing view. It's certainly not a nursing home with a lovely view of the lake, though it does have a modest view of a park across the four lanes of traffic. I guess it's not as bad as it could be.
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In the meantime, our block club (for which Nathan and I are officers) decided to volunteer at the local food pantry. It was a really great date night actually, and we're planning to head back again to bring by some things for the organization's clothes closet sometime in the next week or two. If you have one near you, I certainly recommend your trying it out.
I'll just have to practice my Random Acts of Cookies on other people who are unprotected by government health codes. Maybe I'll save that for the neighbors in those dull winter months that seem to be right around the corner after the holidays. I'll give people time to set their goals of losing weight and getting healthy in the new year and then, Bam! They'll find a plate of salted caramel brownies waiting eagerly at their front door. Hmm, that seems a bit un-neighborly, doesn't it?
Look into a Meals on Wheels program, where hot meals are delivered to people who cannot cook food for themselves. They may not allow you to give them baked goods, but you would be delivering meals to those that need it. I've done it several times and its heartbreaking how happy they are to see you.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought, since you can't give them the baked goods, what about a bake sale and you donate the proceeds to the nursing home?
Great ideas, Abby, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've also donated cookies that my students have made to homeless shelters or domestic abuse shelters, and they're always happy to receive them. I've also seen, at some of the elderly care facilities that I work with, people go in and make cookies WITH the residents. Could that be an option?
ReplyDeleteJenny, both ideas are awesome. I was going to check at the food pantry to see if it would be possible to donate cookies some Saturday when they have the flood of families stuck in the waiting room until it's their turn, but I also love the shelters idea because we have quite a few of those in our neighborhood. I am not feeling too confident about the making cookies with the residents option to be possible, but I will certainly check into it.
ReplyDeleteHanna, what a great idea! I know at schools now, all food has to be packaged, and we have "healthy food guidelines" that we have to follow. Our school put together baskets for police and fire fighters for Sept. 11, and they were very grateful!
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