On October 29, I launched a very unscientific survey. I was and still am curious about traditions of caring for friends and neighbors in need. I asked individual readers to respond how they wanted to be helped in a particular situation.
The situations, each with suggestions listed and an option to write in additional acts of kindness, included
When I'm sick for more than a couple of days...
When somebody close to me has died...
When a baby has been born...
When I've lost my job...
After my youngest has left for college...
I continue to receive responses, but I thought it would be fun and enlightening to share the results based on 80 submissions.
All age groups were well represented, with a neat generational split between respondents under/over age 45.
An initial count of respondents' preferred ways of being cared for regardless of age or situation showed that prayer and notes still rank at the top.
The responses have been abbreviated:
- Pray - Pray for me
- Note - Send me a note (handwritten or email)
- Sit - Come and sit with me for a while
- Food - Bring Food
- Coffee - Come by for a cup of coffee
- Kids - Take the kids for a couple of hours
- Chocolate - Send chocolate
- Groceries - Get my groceries
- Invite me - Take me out for lunch or dinner or an outing
- Walk my dog - Walk my dog
- Laundry - Do my laundry
- Clean - Clean my bedroom, bathroom, house
- Mow the yard - Mow the yard
- Move in - Move in and take care of things for a week
- Call me - Call, email, or txt me and ask me what I need you to do
- Borrow your dog - Let me borrow your dog
- Network - Help me network, know about job openings, find a job
- Kitten - Send me a kitten
Below I have posted the responses to the five situations, according to the two almost equal age groupings. In a follow up post next week, I will post the results for individual caring actions and how they relate to each of the five situations.
