I have to admit I never really thought too much about my community. Sure, I was aware of where I was raised, I had some attachment to childhood memories, and I have a soft spot in my heart for what feels like home...but I hadn't really thought about my community as a support system. At least not until now. It really started with the Freeze Out Friendly soccer fundraiser, Bert and I were overwhelmed at how many people came, all the hard work and support we received from our family, friends, acquaintances, and really total strangers. We felt so grateful that so many people cared and genuinely supported our family. It continued with our employers, both were willing to help us in any way they could, our co-workers were supportive and available to listen, I was happily surprised when I came to work a few Friday's ago and every single person was wearing a Freeze Out Friendly t-shirt to show support and awareness for ALS. My children's friends, teachers, and school have supported them, Sophia and Alex were both given the opportunity to share their story about their dad and explain what ALS is and just feel empowered to express their feelings in their classrooms. So many people all over the country and some out of the country have written or contacted me to show support and share stories and advice. There are many families out there dealing with ALS and other difficult illnesses, and it is comforting to know that we can support each other.
We attended a fundraiser in memory of a friend last weekend and were able to show our support. It felt good to show our support and help a little. My family felt the community we live in come together once again for a friend and a good cause. Sophia and Alex really wanted to show support for their friend, they enjoyed cheering and helping to raise money for families living with cancer. Our community began to feel like family.
After the Freeze Out Friendly we were able to donate money from our community to a non-profit organization called Hope Loves Company, it's an organization that is dedicated to the children of ALS patients. Their mission is to provide emotional and educational support to children and young adults who have family members battling ALS. Hope Loves Company was founded by an inspiring family who came together because of ALS and now are helping others. Just more proof of ALS being linked to a positive! We were also able to donate from our community to the ALS clinic at John's Hopkins where all of the people we have met work tirelessly to help people with ALS and their families get the care and equipment they need as well as offer great support. Bert and I have been embraced by community in York County where we live, in Lancaster where I work, through Office Depot where Bert works, in Maryland where Bert and our family is cared for by John's Hopkins ALS Clinic, in New Jersey where Hope Loves Company is located, in Worcester Massachusetts where we participate in the drug trial, from our families and their friends to strangers that have helped Bert out of the car at rest stops to people all over the place ...it really is amazing.
So many times the focus is on the bad that goes on in the world, but there are so many truly wonderful acts of kindness happening all around us. I felt that I needed to summarize what community means to me because of the acts of kindness that I witnessed on Friday. It started first thing in the morning...I was running late for work as usual and I was racing through the Dunkin Donuts drive through in Lancaster, the community where I work and when I got to the window and handed them my debit card the lady handed it back and said the person in front of you paid for your coffee and muffin. I really didn't know what to say...I was touched, I felt happy and it totally made my day. I didn't know that person in front of me and they did not know me, but they displayed that act of kindness just because. I arrived at work to find an envelope of money on my desk, my co-workers raised over $200 for our team and the Fiesta 5K that we are doing to support the Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Later that same day Bert and I took the kids and their friends bowling at our local bowling alley and a gentleman who was sitting beside us asked my husband if he was Bert Lange...he said his son had played soccer at the fundraiser. The gentleman was happy to meet us because he said his wife and her prayer group had just prayed for Bert and our family the evening before. Bert and I felt so grateful, I wanted to cry with joy at this man we didn't know telling us that prayers were being said for Bert. We talked more with him and he told us about his mission work in Africa and about what it was like to help others...I have always believed in fate and I really felt that we were meant to meet this gentleman. We never go bowling on a Friday night, I randomly or not so randomly decided we would on my way home that day. I ended up writing his wife a note to thank her for her prayers and to tell her how much that meant to my family. Before he left he said they pray for us everyday, that feels so good to know that we are being prayed for, we are grateful.
My family has found that community support has taught us that giving is important, I try at every chance to be aware of what acts of kindness I can provide to others. My children want to do for others, Sophia has not let me go empty handed to UMass once, she makes pens with special grippers for me to give to the Nurse and Doctor for their ALS Clinic patients, it takes her hours to make them but she wants to send them with us every time. Alex is down in the basement many nights when I get home from work helping his dad exercise and stretch when he could very easily be playing video games. It is our village that is teaching us to be better people and pay it forward.
Community is everywhere, it starts with family and spreads rapidly to include friends, neighbors, schools, work, churches, hospitals, sports teams, and strangers. Community is all around us, we just need to look up from our phones and busy lives to see it, to embrace the good in people, to focus on the positive, to realize that with all the problems in the world around us that good really does prevail over evil. ALS and for that matter no terminal illness or disease can take community, rather communities rise in the face of them and come together. My family is truly grateful for our community!
The Best Way To Find Yourself...Is To Lose Yourself In The Service Of Others. ~M. Gandhi
xoxo Jennifer
We attended a fundraiser in memory of a friend last weekend and were able to show our support. It felt good to show our support and help a little. My family felt the community we live in come together once again for a friend and a good cause. Sophia and Alex really wanted to show support for their friend, they enjoyed cheering and helping to raise money for families living with cancer. Our community began to feel like family.
After the Freeze Out Friendly we were able to donate money from our community to a non-profit organization called Hope Loves Company, it's an organization that is dedicated to the children of ALS patients. Their mission is to provide emotional and educational support to children and young adults who have family members battling ALS. Hope Loves Company was founded by an inspiring family who came together because of ALS and now are helping others. Just more proof of ALS being linked to a positive! We were also able to donate from our community to the ALS clinic at John's Hopkins where all of the people we have met work tirelessly to help people with ALS and their families get the care and equipment they need as well as offer great support. Bert and I have been embraced by community in York County where we live, in Lancaster where I work, through Office Depot where Bert works, in Maryland where Bert and our family is cared for by John's Hopkins ALS Clinic, in New Jersey where Hope Loves Company is located, in Worcester Massachusetts where we participate in the drug trial, from our families and their friends to strangers that have helped Bert out of the car at rest stops to people all over the place ...it really is amazing.
So many times the focus is on the bad that goes on in the world, but there are so many truly wonderful acts of kindness happening all around us. I felt that I needed to summarize what community means to me because of the acts of kindness that I witnessed on Friday. It started first thing in the morning...I was running late for work as usual and I was racing through the Dunkin Donuts drive through in Lancaster, the community where I work and when I got to the window and handed them my debit card the lady handed it back and said the person in front of you paid for your coffee and muffin. I really didn't know what to say...I was touched, I felt happy and it totally made my day. I didn't know that person in front of me and they did not know me, but they displayed that act of kindness just because. I arrived at work to find an envelope of money on my desk, my co-workers raised over $200 for our team and the Fiesta 5K that we are doing to support the Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Later that same day Bert and I took the kids and their friends bowling at our local bowling alley and a gentleman who was sitting beside us asked my husband if he was Bert Lange...he said his son had played soccer at the fundraiser. The gentleman was happy to meet us because he said his wife and her prayer group had just prayed for Bert and our family the evening before. Bert and I felt so grateful, I wanted to cry with joy at this man we didn't know telling us that prayers were being said for Bert. We talked more with him and he told us about his mission work in Africa and about what it was like to help others...I have always believed in fate and I really felt that we were meant to meet this gentleman. We never go bowling on a Friday night, I randomly or not so randomly decided we would on my way home that day. I ended up writing his wife a note to thank her for her prayers and to tell her how much that meant to my family. Before he left he said they pray for us everyday, that feels so good to know that we are being prayed for, we are grateful.
My family has found that community support has taught us that giving is important, I try at every chance to be aware of what acts of kindness I can provide to others. My children want to do for others, Sophia has not let me go empty handed to UMass once, she makes pens with special grippers for me to give to the Nurse and Doctor for their ALS Clinic patients, it takes her hours to make them but she wants to send them with us every time. Alex is down in the basement many nights when I get home from work helping his dad exercise and stretch when he could very easily be playing video games. It is our village that is teaching us to be better people and pay it forward.
Community is everywhere, it starts with family and spreads rapidly to include friends, neighbors, schools, work, churches, hospitals, sports teams, and strangers. Community is all around us, we just need to look up from our phones and busy lives to see it, to embrace the good in people, to focus on the positive, to realize that with all the problems in the world around us that good really does prevail over evil. ALS and for that matter no terminal illness or disease can take community, rather communities rise in the face of them and come together. My family is truly grateful for our community!
The Best Way To Find Yourself...Is To Lose Yourself In The Service Of Others. ~M. Gandhi
xoxo Jennifer
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