Just One Day, is never just that, it’s never just one day. Every single day is an opportunity to do something good for others, to make a difference in someone’s life, and to set the example for others.
This post is sponsored by United Healthcare. All opinions expressed are my own.
One of the things that Nathan and I want the most for our kids, is for them to grow up knowing the importance of being the good, and doing for others; one of the ways that we do this, is we involve them when we do volunteer work. Last year we took them out of school and had them help us when we did a backyard fix and remodel for a local veteran and his family, Monkey left that day and told me how much he enjoyed doing good things for others and wanted to know when we can do it again because in his words: “mom, it’s fun to do nice things and help other people, plus it made me feel good.”
November 13 – 19 is #DoGoodWeek and United Healthcare wants to start a movement to inspire others, to start a movement and change the social conversation from negative news to positive stories for one week with the hashtag #DoGoodWeek. Stories and uses of #DoGoodWeek on Twitter and Instagram will be aggregated on a microsite – dogoodweek.org – where people can visit and view them.
When they reached out to me to ask if I wanted to be a part of this, I immediately said yes, because this is how we try to live our lives, and if I can use this space to spread that word, too… YES! Throughout the past week, I’ve shared things that we’ve done during #DoGoodWeek; you can read about them on my Facebook page, Twitter, and I shared this picture on Instagram
A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to volunteer at a local pet therapy center called, HALTER, Inc. HALTER was started out to meet the needs of children with congential heart disease, but it has expanded to encompass children with varied disabilities, and needs. HALTER is the only organization in Houston that uses the miniature horses for a lead line program to help get the benefits to children with special needs at an earlier age, and with a size appropriate horse. HALTER is also the only non-profit that takes their horses to the beach to better benefit their special needs children, this program focuses specifically on children with Autism. This program has expanded to take it from a day camp program just for HALTER participants and is now open to everyone. In addition to assisting children with special needs, HALTER inc also assists at-risk teenagers by offering opportunities to participate in training and riding programs. These programs improve self-confidence, while allowing the opportunity for the participants to help others. As an extension of the at-risk teen program, HALTER provides a supportive, constructive environment for teenagers with court appointed community service to complete their hours of obligation.
HALTER, Inc does absolutely incredible work to help make the world a better place, but it’s facility and play areas were in serious need of fixing and updating, but keeping up with that was beyond the scope of the Mom and Son who run it, so in stepped Home Depot’s Women in Leadership program, and our family.
We painted, we built benches, we built and stained tables, and we worked alongside hundreds of volunteers from across the state of Texas. The volunteers were all Women in Leadership with Home Depot, and they literally came from nearly every corner of Texas to spend the day making this corner of the world a better place. Fences were rebuilt, brush was cut, buildings were painted, a new playground was installed, the picnic area was updated and a new kitchen area installed.
Two of the volunteers even made a special sensory wall before the event, and installed it in the picnic area.
Our family spent hours painting, cleaning, building, and working side by side with hundreds of volunteers; and there was never a complaint heard. Laughter, stories, encouragement, and praise was heard echoing across the acreage. There was even dancing at times, but more than anything, there was a sense of community, joy, accomplishment, and pride. Every time we have the opportunity to volunteer together, it brings us closer as a family, and it reinforces that doing good for others, does equally good things for the heart and soul.
Do you and your family volunteer together? How do you help to ensure that you’re part of the #DoGoodWeek movement? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had 52 weeks a year of goodness and making the world better for others!
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by United Healthcare. All opinions expressed are my own. Sponsored posts help me pay for the costs associated with this blog (like the groceries…so very many groceries,y’all), and help support me as I follow my dreams of recipe development and food photography. All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands and companies that support A Southern Fairytale.
