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Apr 15 2020

Shrinking Economies: Micro Responses to COVID-19

I want it all!

I’m an American: I want the Constitution protected.

I’m an entrepreneur: I want the economy running.

I’m a human being: I want life preserved.

These days, I just can’t have it all.

…or can I?

What if there were a way? Accountants know that if you take care of the pennies, the dollars take care of themselves. I think the same principle could work on economies. What if I took care of my neighborhood economy? How would that affect the surrounding community? I have a theory about how to get the US economy working again, but I warn you: it takes sacrifice. It requires me to get off my high horse and out of the protest lines and into my neighbors’ lives.

If every neighborhood in a community ends up healthy, won’t the community end up healthy? If every community surrounding a city invests its efforts in that city, won’t it end up healthy? If we work from the bottom up, we solve the problem without compromising the economy, our Constitution, or public health. We do the work ourselves so no one has a need to force anything on us.

How this works…

  1. I need to get to know my neighbors first. That means those people at the very back of the neighborhood who drive by me and wave but whose names I don’t know. How?
    1. Send a note through the mail introducing myself and inviting them to email, call, text, or connect on a social medium. Did you know a quick Google search will tell you who lives where? Endless apps can tell you who lives at which address easily. Yes, it’s a bit creepy, but it’s already out there.
    2. Bake a treat and “ding, dong, ditch” them with a note–properly sanitized, of course. In the note, introduce yourself and … see #1.
    3. Create a neighborhood group or page on social media and invite them all in. On ours, we introduce our pets and post helpful links to services. When needs arise, a general statement that a need exists should suffice to solicit private messages from those who have excess and are willing to share it without pressuring anyone to give.
    4. Check on the elderly or infirm regularly. I can’t imagine a worse feeling than knowing a neighbor fell and needed help, but I never knew. Observant neighbors can save lives, and we don’t have to be nosy or disrespectful to be aware if something isn’t quite right next door.
  2. Only after I know them and have connected, I need to find out who has lost a job or had hours seriously cut because of the crisis.
    1. I must be trustworthy with this information. Their story is not my story to tell, so any interactions about a family in need must be held in confidence.
    2. Find out–if they are willing–how prepared they are with savings to last through the crisis.
    3. Triage the needs. Who has the best potential to recover with the amount of help available in the community. With limited resources, in other words, where will those resources meet the most significant need?
  3. Build a resource network from the neighborhood.
    1. Not all resources are financial. Families need more than just money in a crisis.
    2. Find the skill sets in the area. Do you have attorneys, financial planners, medical personnel?
    3. Use technology to connect through Zoom to help meet educational needs. Teachers and home school parents can help with the freshly minted home bound educational paradigm.
    4. Create a food supply. Some hard work and good planning can produce enough vegetables to support several families. A neighborhood garden can create a bonding project, even if people don’t work there at the same time. If each person brings his or her own gloves and works at different times to weed and cultivate, no one should go hungry; and maybe children can get a little science credit along the way. Find the homesteaders in the back of the neighborhood who raise chickens and love to bless people with fresh eggs–yes, we have one of those, too.
    5. Create a payment stream. These days no one needs to collect funds to funnel to another person. I can remove the danger of embezzled funds by simply connecting the person in need with a cash transfer application and finding neighbors willing to be a part of the rebuilding to send cash directly to the person who needs it without a middle man skimming off administrative fees. Neighbors live close enough to know first-hand the character of the one in need and whether funds would go to waste on drugs or alcohol instead of rebuilding a life. They know in a way that a government cannot know, and when they invest in people who genuinely want to recover, that’s one less family relying on social programs overrun by need.
    6. I should do whatever I can anonymously. A proud breadwinner struggles to have someone else pay his mortgage, and those able to give should be happy they can help without embarrassing anyone. Where one person may struggle to bear the entire load of even a single payment, five neighbors could probably work together to give 20% each and give that hard working, proud homeowner some time to figure out the next month. No one needs to know who else ponied up.
  4. Pray for and encourage neighbors.
    1. I’ve never once told people I would pray for them and had them ask me not to. I use a system called Bless Every Home to make sure I remember everyone in my community and pray over them regularly.
    2. Let them know their success is important. When I invest in them, I invest in the health of the community.
    3. Check in regularly… not in a stalking, creepy way, but with a genuine heart for their well being.

When we succeed in propping up a neighbor whose business went under, that entrepreneur will start over. That’s the heart of a business person. He or she won’t sit back and do nothing. If we leave these backbones of our local economy with nothing, the entire community suffers. The more quickly we can help them back on their feet, the more quickly they’ll start a new restaurant, shop, or product line.

This person creates a job for the next person, and pretty soon, through the work of each neighborhood willing to put its politics aside and just lend a helping hand, we’ll look up from our labors and realize, the world is healing, and we were part of the solution.

…and that’s the view from My Front Porch.

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Written by Ruth Ann Frederick · Categorized: Culture, Wisdom for Life

Dec 23 2018

Saying Good-bye to Sheila

I would have said…

The Pohl gals’ annual cookie day. I was privileged to spend two of those days watching these beautiful ladies bless others with special treats.

…I love you… but I actually did; even if I hadn’t … Sheila knew that.

…you make me a better person … but Sheila knew that.

…I love that you listen to me cry over my children and don’t judge my parenting … but Sheila knew that.

…I need more friends like you … but Sheila knew that friendships like ours don’t happen often.

…you make me feel more confident … but Sheila had a way of making everyone believe they could do anything.

…I feel comfortable with you … but Sheila made everyone feel comfortable.

Had I known my conversation last weekend with my sweet friend Sheila would be my last, I would have said… exactly what I did say because Sheila brought that out in me.

I have nothing to say in goodbyes that I didn’t say during her life, and I didn’t need her to say anything that she hadn’t already said.

Tonight, I mourn my own loss and rejoice that she will not suffer a long, drawn out battle with the cancer that mercifully took her today as she slept, unaware the end of this mortal life had come. I pray for her faithful husband Allan, her son Kevin and his wife Lauren, and her sweet Emily and her husband John. We have this hope in Christ Jesus, that we shall see our sister Sheila again.

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

…and that’s the view from My Front Porch

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Written by Ruth Ann Frederick · Categorized: Wisdom for Life

Aug 09 2018

Mrs. Fred Goes to China – Part 2

“You’ve never traveled internationally, and for your first trip, you picked China?” My world-traveling friend marveled at the adventure awaiting me and gave me advice for mitigating jet-lag.

He was right. I might have fared better had I traveled to Europe first, but I’ve always been an all-in sort of gal. Off I went on a nearly 16-hour flight with a group of people I had never met. [Read more…]

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Written by Ruth Ann Frederick · Categorized: Career, Wisdom for Life

Jul 18 2018

Mrs. Fred Goes to China

Note: This post was written before my departure, but I did not want people knowing I was leaving the country until after I returned. I will write more about the trip in the coming weeks.

Todd and I have teased our children and grandchildren for years when they constantly ask, “Where’s Mom–or Grandma?” He always tells them she went to China. Imagine their confusion next week when I actually do. [Read more…]

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Written by Ruth Ann Frederick · Categorized: Career, Wisdom for Life

Mar 15 2018

Life’s Stop Lights

I drove home from a friend’s house Sunday, and I hit the stop lights on our main drag just perfectly to make sure every subsequent light turned red just as I arrived. At each stop I rolled my eyes realizing if I had just sped up a little before that first one, they would all have stayed green long enough for me to make it home five minutes faster.

No harm came from those extra five minutes, other than my own impatience, but the extra time did allow me some reflection. [Read more…]

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Written by Ruth Ann Frederick · Categorized: Career, Wisdom for Life

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