How To Give Back To Your Community While Social Distancing

You may feel like these difficult times have to grind everything to a halt, as your entire life has changed. But what is required is a pivot to reinventing your life in all areas right now. Check out these tips for staying safe with social distance while continuing to give back to your community.

Times are tough for everyone right now, so it’s understandable to feel some anxiety with all this change. But many people can barely leave their houses, and cabin fever is understandably setting in. For those of us who care about our communities, it can be heart-wrenching to be away from them for so long. If you are still looking into how you can help, here is how to give back to your community while social distancing.

Check in on Neighbors

Everyone is going through their own struggles right now, and for those who feel the calling to help, remember that it doesn’t have to be an enormous gesture to count for something. As Mother Teresa said, “It’s the small things with great love” that count the most. Simply checking in with your friends and neighbors over the phone or video chat is a great way to stay connected, while also finding small ways to offer assistance.

• When you go to the market, you can simply offer to pick up a few things for a friend so they can avoid going out.
• Your genuine desire to help will be greatly appreciated. Whether it involves picking up food for an elderly community member or dropping off supplies for a compromised neighbor.

Safe Charity Work

Charities need our help right now more than ever. If you are feeling disconnected, you may wish to research some ways that you can help either virtually or from a distance.

• Donating food to local food banks, calling and providing companionship for the elderly is a great place to start.
• Dropping off old clothes to places like the Purple Heart Pickup organization, The Good Will, or the Salvation Army can have a huge impact on your community.

Shop Local as Much as Possible

Some of the places suffering the most right now are local businesses. Large companies may be making money hand over fist still, but local smaller businesses are the ones really suffering right now. When you can, try to order from local restaurants and stores to keep the community thriving. You won’t realize how much you miss them until it’s too late.

Take Care of Yourself

While our communities do need our help, it is also crucial to take care of yourself. You won’t be able to give back as much or as effectively if you run yourself ragged trying to do so. Take breaks to recharge when you need to so that you can avoid burnout. No one can give back if they don’t first give to themselves.

Wear a Mask

Perhaps the simplest way to take care of our community is to follow the CDC guidelines for social distancing and do our part to wear a mask. Consider “the mask” your new accessory. There are so many fun ones.

We have a Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff mask available too.

These tips for giving back while social distancing may be just what you need to keep you motivated to help your community during these strange times. Giving back in small ways is something that we can all do to both help our local community and also to feel better as we pivot toward reinventing our lives from where we are now.