Neighbors invite 97 year old over, when he can’t get his own meals
My personal belief is that all children and elderly should have nutritious meals and safe housing. We are savages if we can’t provide at least that minimum, to our most vulnerable. Instead, America has gone the way of ‘PROFITS’ and ‘caring for people is socialism’.
My local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal, had the BEST article today about some amazing neighbors:
Jennifer Haruta gets a hug from her neighbor Al Locati after delivering a home-cooked meal to her neighbor Locati at his home in San Anselmo on Wednesday. Marilee Rogers (left), who arrived with a large print book for Locati, has coordinated the neighbors to supply Locati with meals and other necessities twice a week. (IJ photo/Jeff Vendsel)When Al Locati, 97, decided to give up driving and began to cope with his failing eyesight, across-the-street neighbors Marilee and Norman Rogers thought that he seemed depressed.That’s when they organized Al’s Meals, a neighborhood effort to supply Locati with at least two dinners each week. Marilee Rogers canvassed fellow residents of Hawthorne Avenue in San Anselmo to ask who would be willing to take Locati to a restaurant, invite him eat at their home, provide him with a cooked meal or bring him a take-out dinner.
Twenty households said yes.
“It’s working quite well,” Norman Rogers said. The plan is almost three months old, and so far no one has provided dinner more than once.
“It’s like long-lost cousins getting together
Jennifer Haruta chats while delivering a home-cooked meal to Al Locati at his home in San Anselmo on Wednesday. (IJ photo/Jeff Vendsel)again,” Locati, a small man with a bald head and smiling eyes, said. “I don’t know that I deserve this.”Norman said it’s an example, when hard times strike, of people helping people. “I’m very proud of my neighborhood.”
This is not the first time Hawthorne residents have chipped in to help a neighbor, Susan Shroeder said. When she had major surgery two years ago, residents organized meals for her and her family. “It was a huge help. We are fortunate to have such a strong community up here on our little hill.”
When I moved to Mill Valley 8 years ago, Joan Levison and her husband Mike Jackman were our ‘cruise directors’. They had potlucks at their house on a regular basis. All the neighbors gathered and became friends, looking out for each other. Before he died, Mike helped me and my daughter prep our bikes for a bike ride.
Its the kindness. The compassion. It comes on strong when you care for others.
Wayne Dyer says that both the giver and received of kindness experience positive hormonal and chemical benefits. Amazingly, so does someone who simply watches an act of kindness.
The Marin IJ is known for these kinds of NEWS stories, the kind that change lives and save communities.
If we could focus on all of the positive (instead of negative) human behaviors in the media, what would this world be like? I for one, am inspired to be a better person & go check on that neighbor who lost her husband recently.