It happens to all of us. We hear through the grapevine that a friend is sick. Maybe this friend lives alone. Or maybe he has kids and no one else living in the house to help take care of them. Or maybe she has a spouse who’s at work all day, every day, or even out of town.

The Best Intentions…

Do you sometimes feel the desire to help out? But your own life is crazy full. Or you haven’t talked to your friend in a while so it feels awkward to call now. Or your friend lives too far away to get to.

Easy Ways to Make Good

Well, here’s an opportunity to make a list of easy ways to help. So get out a pen and paper (or your digital notepad) and jot down any of these ideas that sound right for you.

• Small acts count. A lot. Even a one-time offering is very helpful. Maybe walk your friend’s dog. Or pick up the kids at school.
• Build a little extra for your friend into your regular routine. You probably have to go grocery shopping for yourself. And most of us cook meals at least once in a while. It’s so easy to add your friend’s shopping list to your own. Or make an extra large batch of whatever you’re planning for dinner and give half to your friend.
• Team up with others. This can seem like a real organizing time-sink. But no. You guessed it. You can do it all online from the comfort of wherever you and your digital device might be. Check out Lotsa Helping Hands or Food Tidings for starters.
• Carrying on the online theme – seems to be easiest and least time-consuming – order something to be shipped directly to your friend. Flowers probably come to mind. But how about a book? Or a video?
• Maybe a little pampering is in order. If you can’t give the time, maybe hire a massage therapist or manicurist to do a house call for your friend.
• Does your friend have faraway family or dear friends who have time and desire for a visit to help out but need help with the plane ticket? Have you accumulated lots of miles on your favorite airline? There you go! Consider gifting miles to out-of-town helpers.

Of course, a visit or a phone call – even a short one – let your friend know you are thinking about them. And sometimes, when you’re sick, having someone reach out and acknowledge your pain can be the best support of all.

Share your ideas for helping a sick friend.

Wednesday I was empathizing with parents marching their kids through the morning get-ready-for-school drill, complete with rounding up homework and school supplies. But some families have bigger worries when it comes to backpacks and notebooks and all the other tools kids are supposed to bring to school – they simply can’t afford them. More than 30 million school children have enough financial need to be enrolled in free and reduced lunch programs. School supplies are one more must-have beyond their means.

No Child Left Without Supplies

Fortunately, there are numerous charities that stand ready to help. Kids in Need Foundation is a national nonprofit that serves as a liaison between corporate and individual sponsors and resource centers around the country that give supplies to students in need. In 2015 they helped 4.8 million children. Take a look at their website for choices of ways to give. Or look online to find a local charity doing the same thing.

Do It Yourself

For those with the entrepreneurial spirit, check out Create the Good’s website where you can get detailed instructions on how to do your own school supply drive.

Geoffrey Canada, who devotes his life to improving education for poor children has said, “Poverty places not just one or two obstacles but multiple obstacles in a child’s pathway to what we would consider to be regular development – cognitively, intellectually and emotionally.”

A shoutout to all non-profits, for-profits and and just plain folk who are donating where it counts!

Share links to your favorite school supply charities.

For all of you with a pup who…

begs to share your dinner

follows you into the bathroom

waits on the stair for your arrival

sunbathes with you on the couch

plays with you on the beach

gives you the death stare and won’t budge on his walk

ignores your other pets

let’s you dress her up

cheers for your favorite sports team

or cuddles with you on the couch ….

this one’s for YOU!

Share your favorite pup pics!

Here’s a reprint to remind and encourage you to donate donate donate books. You’ll do a world of good!

My bookshelves are full to bursting. I use the library a lot but there are not so infrequent times when I purchase a new book for keeps. It sits on my nightstand for a while. Then it emerges at the top and gets read. Then it’s time to find a place for it on a bookshelf.

The Problem: Too Many Books!

That’s where the problem comes in. I’m full up. I try to shift books around, squeeze books in. I often end up placing the new book perpendicular to and on top of another.

The Solution: Pay it Forward!

There is another alternative. And I’ve decided to follow it. Let’s face it: Am I really going to ever read most of these books a second time? A resounding No. I like the comfort, the reminder of readings past. It’s a reader’s eye candy.

But I can have my eye candy and eat it, too. So here’s my new thing. Make two piles. Books that are Claire classics. That is, books that have been life-changing or life-defining to me. And books that I actually will read again. Put those in one pile. The rest…pass them along, pay it forward. There are organizations across the hungry for donations.

Used Bookstores

First of all, there are used bookstores. Powell’s is my Chicago neighborhood fave. There are versions of this all over the country. In the case of bookstores, you might even get a little cash out of the deal. In this case, your books will be resold. If you want them redistributed at no cost, leave them in the box outside the store where anyone can browse and take. Check online for local options.

Libraries

Libraries are another good option. Your books will be available for reading by LOTS of people since they won’t be re-owned but borrowed.

Charities

Or you can give to organizations that distribute to those who might not be able to afford to purchase books on their own. Donation Town can put you in touch with your local place to donate.

Feelin’ Good

So, I’m off to deliver books to Powell’s. And my bookshelf is a think of beauty with my favorite books standing tall for me to see. I’m feeling good. ☺

Share links to book donation centers here!

As I watched Hillary Rodham Clinton accept the nomination for President of the United States last night, I had flashbacks to scenes from my childhood. You know how memories, especially those from the long ago past, come at you in splintered pieces? Almost like still photos or film clips.

Miss America and Girls in the 1960s

I remember an annual highlight for me and my sisters was watching the Miss America pageant. I have an image of women parading across a stage in bathing suits. We scrutinized their looks: their hair, their eyes, their teeth, their clothing. And each of us would zero in on one young woman we wanted to win. Throughout the contest, for that one night, we wanted to be that woman and all that we had deemed so likeable about how she looked.

I remember watching the nightly news with my father. We were fans of Huntley and Brinkley (both men). I especially liked Chet Huntley. To me, he seemed so calm and serious, his dark suit and tie and his low measured voice made me feel so secure.

I remember the volatility of the Civil Rights Movement and of the Vietnam War and the 1968 Democratic Convention that took place in Chicago, my own backyard. The faces (all of them male) that flit across my memory: Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Richard Daley, Richard Nixon.

I remember elementary school, sitting quietly at my desk all day, diligently following teacher’s instructions, understanding that what was expected of me was good grades and good behavior. It paid off with Ivy League college admissions.

Stretching Our Horizons in the 1970s

In the mid-1970s, I was a young woman attending Yale University, a college that had been all-male just 6 years before I arrived. But I remember feeling that more was being expected of me than ever before. My teachers, men and women, pushed me to stretch my thinking beyond just “the right answer.” And though it was more of a backdrop than something I thought about every day, I was aware that during my junior year, Yale was being led by a woman, Hanna Gray.

I have a picture of Hillary Clinton on my phone. She looks barely in her 20s. . She is standing with Bill across the street from the dormitory I lived in for three years. The picture must have been taken just a few years before I arrived on campus. She is smiling, her chin jutting forward just a little, a look of self-confidence and of complete comfort in her own skin. She looks like she cannot wait to make her mark on the world.

We’ve Come A Long Way Baby!

Last night, Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination for President of the United States. I watched her in her white suit, her eyes shining, her not-so-low voice clear and strong. The images of influencers from my childhood flashed through my mind. I thought at that moment: The memories of the little girls growing up today will include Hillary. Her beauty and her power to make them feel secure. This moment will be seared on their minds, a snapshot that informs their sense of possibility, that drives their self-expectation, and impacts the choices they make.

Today, as I go about my work, Miss America, Chet Huntley, Hannah Gray, and Hillary Clinton are all perched on my shoulder, pushing the continued expansion of my own sense of possibility and self-expectation. We’ve come a long way baby. Thank you Hillary Rodham Clinton for shaping women across the generations, inspiring us to live fully in the knowledge that, “Yes we can!”

Share your stories of formative memories that shaped you.