Shining the light on good old-fashioned deeds

According to the Perk, World Kindness Day was November 13th.

World Kindness Day shines a light on good, old-fashioned good deeds. World kindness bridges the gap of race, religion, politics, gender, age and zip codes. Kindness is part of the human condition. Negativity influences our lives, let’s be positive. Think about times when someone has been kind to you and how that affected your life.

I remember a time when I was poor and I really wanted to go to do mission work in Africa. I was at a grocery store and saw this huge stuffed zebra. I tucked him under my arm and if I had enough money after I was done buying groceries I was going to buy him as a reminder to pray for Africa. Well of course I didn’t have enough money so I was going to put him back. The customer in line behind me heard me say why I wanted him and this kind fellow paid for my zebra. I was so thrilled I brought him to bible school with me to show the other students how someone had been thoughtful to me. I still have that zebra and it fills me with love thinking of someone else’s kindness towards me.

I asked residents about a time they remember someone being kind to them.  Howard said his wife as a whole has always kind to him. She even put things aside she should have been doing.

Iris said people were always nice to her and she might have taken it for granted

We asked some of our residents to share their thoughts on how the world could be a kinder place or what their thoughts of kindness are. Their responses were as follows:

“We should all be considerate, the young as well as the old” Rose H.

“First get rid of all the politicians, and just be kind to all people in your deeds, if someone needs something, help them out” Linda J.  and Joyce H.

“Do what is best for the people, help each other. I’m afraid world kindness needs to come from the top down.” Nona S.

“Be a good person, if someone needs you to do something like run an errand, you would run an errand. When you come to a new place, away from your home, it is nice to have kindness.” Nadine A.

“We need more happiness and laughter in this world. It really helped me when my husband died to be around people who could lighten my spirit” Shirley H.

“I think there could be more kindness in this world and less crap, instead of finding fault and griping about everything try to be kind, look for good. I like people and I believe in talking nice to people not smothering them in kindness, just good, honest conversation.” Iris S.

“I think kindness originates in coming to an understanding of others and their needs. Kindness is not self-centered; the whole idea of kindness opposes the philosophy of self-concern. Kindness insists on being open to others, thinking of others, and really trying to understand others. For instance, how are my neighbors? What are they feeling? How are they getting along and getting along with others. Kindness is an understanding of another’s needs. We need to be more open and understanding. Bob H.

“Try to focus on the news that lifts the spirit. If world leaders came together seeking peace through kindness you would hope they would recognize what is needed for all people. There are so many different people and cultures. If we could understand how other people think, all people in general, it would aid us in achieving kindness to each other.” Howard M.

We learned according to “The Perk” Sunday, November 15th is America recycles day. Americans recycle only about 34%. Do you know that one recycled tin can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours? Let’s be kind and recycle.

Our resident spotlight this month shines on Nona Smith.

Nona was born April 2th, 1925 in Mineral Center. She grew up there as well. She is the 3rd of 9 children. Her youngest sister Florence (who happens to be one of my aunts) is 20 years younger than her.  As a child Nona remembers climbing trees and riding bike. She said one of her brother’s saved money to buy her a bicycle. When asked what was going on in the world while she was growing up she stated that people were starving as it was the depression.

Nona attended school in Grand Marais. She didn’t attend college nor join the military. She was a waitress, cooked in the hospital for 14 years, cleaned the Legion for 8 years after retirement then worked at the Senior Center. She enjoys crocheting, knitting, baking, and sewing. She sewed clothes for her daughters.

She met her husband Melvin in Grand Marais after he returned from the war. She said she was hiding from another boy who was supposed to be a blind date as she didn’t want to go out with him when Melvin found her. They got married in 1945 at the Congregational church in town. They have 5 children-Patsy, Peggy, Sally, Duane, and Tom.  Nona and Melvin spent time at ball games, visiting family, snowmobiling and cross country skiing. Nona loved to travel, Melvin did not so Nona took four of their children and did the circle tour around Lake Superior. Nona spent one month traveling with a sister and brother-in-law to the west coast and back. She wishes she had spent more time traveling. On her bucket list is to see the Statue of Liberty. That’s where her dad came into the world from Austria.

Nona’s advice to young people is to just live life. Don’t wait and don’t hold back. She also says,-“Keep the cookie jar full of homemade cookies!”

Thankfulness

We are thankful for your kindness in the giving of plants, candy, cards, recipes, puzzle books, colored pencils and money for the Activity fund.

We are thankful for our Essential Caregivers who are currently still able to come in. We are thankful for the visitors who stopped by when we were able to host them and hope to see them soon. We are thankful for our volunteers who we hope will still have time in their lives for us when all this craziness blows over and we are thankful for you.

We are all healthy as healthy at the sweet age of 95 goes, but just the same we are busy playing Bingo and Hangman, reminiscing, having dog visits, doing FaceTime and Skyping. We are thankful for technology to keep us close with our loved ones.  Anna Bjork, Judy Norvell, Joyce Hagen and Mary Liebsch all celebrated their birthdays in November.

Lucy Lutz and Joyce Hagen were the Perk drawing winners. They both received a yummy bag of chocolate candy.

Each year for the longest time we have had a frozen turkey for our grand prize for Thanksgiving Bingo. This year we had an actual stuffed turkey and Mary Liebsch was the lucky winner and gets to host Tom the turkey in her room for a week.

We had deliciously fancy harvest themed cupcakes for the big event. Our weekly Happy Hour treats have been great fun.

We honored our vets Bob Haring, Bob Sherman, Harold Husby, Dale Hooper and Bill Butz with a poem of tribute, coffee and cupcakes, a boutonniere from Terra Bella, treats provided by American Legion Auxiliary Unit 413 from Gunflint Mercantile and hats from Napa. Thank you so much men for your service (hero photos below in gallery). 

Tree and household decorating has begun. We plan on having our Christmas parties on Tuesday, December 22 for our Waves household and Wednesday, December 23rd for our Woods household. We are decorating our multi-purpose room with lots of trees thanks to Sawtooth Ridges. Care Center and hospital departments are adopting a tree to decorate and residents are going to judge them according to categories. Santa and Mrs. Claus will make an appearance and a few elves will be running around.

We hope you had a good and meaningful Thanksgiving and look forward to seeing you soon.

“No act of kindness however small is ever wasted” Aesop