Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

 

I have my last program of the year tomorrow night.

It’s a Kindergarten and 1^st Grade program and will feature eight songs,

Including The Greenwood Song and a song about Earth Day.

As per usual, the program songs have been playing nonstop in my head.

One lyric, in particular, has been on repeat

Because it is such a good reminder of what I need to be doing:

“I am an Earth Day helper, I like to lend a hand,

I pick up trash and water plants, recycle when I can.”

 

Unfortunately, my county does not recycle.

And unfortunately, my plants are now in the back room where I don’t remember to water them.

But. I’m pretty good at picking up trash.

And I’m pretty good at reducing and reusing.

And I’m pretty good at being amazed at people who are ingenious in their ideas of

Reducing, reusing, and recycling.

 

Take these two ideas that I garnered from Facebook and a conversation with a friend:

 

Instead of donating gently used clothes to a thrift store,

You can contact a local nursing home or long-term care facility to see

If there are any residents in need of new clothes.

Some residents have no family or friends to visit them or provide for their basic needs.

Clothes become thread bare and worn as residents re-wear them each day.

Having new clothes can make a person feel better about themselves

And help with their dignity and quality of life.

 

Instead of throwing away cut flower arrangements

(From weddings, church services, company events, school celebrations, etc.),

You can rearrange them into smaller arrangements and deliver them to shut-ins, nursing homes, or hospitals

For persons who need a boost of encouragement.

While we may not all have an organization around us that does this,

There ARE organizations that exist for the sole purpose of repurposing cut flowers for

Random Flowers of Kindness.

Who would have thought that this would be a thing?!

But it is.

And it inspires me to be creative in how I reach into the world.

 

May you be inspired, too, and

May we do all that we can to

Reduce, reuse, and recycle…

And brighten someone’s world in the process.

 

Amen.