By Holly Sosa
Community is important to me. I’ve always felt a responsibility to those around me and try to step up and take action using the God given gifts I’ve been blessed with to bless others around me. One of those gifts is hospitality and I use it to host a weekly community group with our church members and on holidays, I reach out with an invitation to anyone who has no one else to celebrate with, to come and celebrate with my family. During the summer, my children and I band together to create Blessings Bags, which are gallon zip closure bags filled with necessities someone who is homeless may have extra need for. It’s our small way of blessing someone in our community who may have been overlooked or misplaced.
Inspired by Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company’s Band Together campaign, we gathered supplies for our yearly summer tradition to create these Blessings Bags. One for a female and one for a male, filled with a variety of necessities, toiletries, and some creature comforts:
- mouthwash
- mints
- a toothbrush
- a small first aid kit
- wet wipes
- granola bars
- sunscreen (extra important during the summer months here in the High Desert)
- lotion
- lollipops
- cotton swabs
- deodorant
- tampons/pads (for the female bag)
- dry shampoo
We filled the bags with all of the items and used a marker to identify if the bag had female or male contents inside. We’ll keep the bags in the car until we see someone in need and then we’ll gladly hand one out to them in hopes the contents will bless them in some small way. Our bags may not make a huge impact, but I believe our small gesture helps to uplift our community and at least touches the recipients, if nothing else. These Blessings Bags have also been a teaching tool for my children, who help me choose items and pack them, to give them mindfulness with compassion and share some community responsibility together.
Jeweler Mutual is also passionate about community and with their Band Together campaign are set to donate a total of $2 million to three important causes: health, home, and hunger. Based on our votes, they’ll divide the funds between the three nonprofits: St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, and Food Banks Canada & Feeding America. We can all vote once daily, from July 11, 2016 at 11am CT through July 31, 2016 at 11pm CT, and be entered for a chance to win some jewelry from STACKED New York at the same time. The cause with the most votes at the end will receive a $1 million donation, the runner-up will receive $700,000, and $300,000 will go to third place.
Whether you’re inspired by these Blessings Bags or by Jewelers Mutual’s huge Band Together campaign, I hope you’ll be inspired to do something to give back to your community. If nothing else, you can do something right this very moment by placing your daily vote right now over at the Band Together website.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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