This week I’m volunteering at my favorite non-profit Elderhaven, setting up a wireless network and teaching the elderly residents of the care home how to Skype.
We originally thought of this project several months ago when a grant opportunity was announced for Southern Arizona-based non-profts that deal with the issues of aging. The idea lay dormant for a few weeks after we didn’t make the grant cut. But the idea had merit, and I decided when trying to do the next annual Arizona Gives Day fundraiser, we should bring the project back. Instead of copying and pasting all the “please donate” text from the previous years, I suggested that Elderhaven take a different approach to donations.
The plan that was formulated included fundraising for the distinct goal of reducing the isolation many of the elderly residents feel in their old age. We wanted to use modern technology to bring a new mechanism for human connection into their lives. And so the plan was born.
We ran the Arizona Gives Day campaign not as a general fundraiser, but as a platform for money to go directly to the “Tablets for the Elderly project at Elderhaven.” Over the course of 24 hours we raised $1425 towards the project. Although this amount was only a fraction of the way to our goal, it was enough to adopt Plan B where yours truly installs the wireless network and develops the training.
It’s going to be a great week!
(Here’s what Plan B *really* looked like until I flew in this AM)
When I started this blog, at least the original one back in 2000 whatever, it had very little to do with anything other than a place to digitally journal. I’ve been well aware that I don’t write here as often as I do in my physical journal. I’m equally well aware that I don’t have the most read blog, or that I don’t put much work into this. I try to have a sense of humor about it.
Someone has entered my life who is much more important than this blog, and more important than almost anything else that has come before him. My son has been born. He’s a cute little guy.
A few weeks ago I had encountered the world of baby-centric tech, along with the predecessor pregnant-mom tech. I thought these would be a good topic to research and learn more about. I’ve realized that I’ll have plenty of opportunity to find out about this stuff on the way. I’ve also realized how unimportant this is.
I’ve realized how unimportant my intentions for sorting my random collection (see messy stack) of maps for the revolutionary war battlegrounds are. My fascination with FTPing files in the middle of the night is becoming far less important (except backups, always remember to backup!). That random novel someone gave me months ago because I saw it on their shelf and they didn’t want it: unimportant.
It’s not that my interests, or intentions for my career, or family have become less valid. There simply are new priorities in my life. I see most projects and tasks that weren’t really a priority before, losing ground very rapidly.
I am pursuing the same goals as I was before I had a kid, but I’ve gained a special insight into knowing when one of my projects is a complete waste of time, and when I should cut my losses.
What’s interesting is I feel this is going to give me a renewed joy and depth of interaction with the projects I do really enjoy, but don’t spend enough time on. Like this blog. Like calling my family, and long time friends.
Whatever projects I continue, or new goals I find for myself, they will all be viewed through a new daddy-sized lens.
When my wife and I moved away to be Peace Corps volunteers, we gave away nearly everything we owned before we left. We didn’t know how long we were going to be gone, and knowing the value of a dollar, the thought of renting a storage locker was out of the question. We made some people very happy, even though towards the end of our time in the US, we wouldn’t let a friend leave the apartment unless they took something with them.
Fast forward three years back to our reuniting with life in the US. We first touched down in Hawaii, and began anew our desire to own things and furnish a place to live. I believe it all started with a small french press we found on the free shelf at a backpackers in Waikiki. Although we didn’t settle for a few months after that, eventually I found a job and subsequently an apartment. Then we found out just how much we love Craiglist, Freecycle, and people leaving stuff on the sidewalk in general.
We have furnished a lot of our apartment for the price of walking down the street a few miles. Sometimes we take the metro, but often a collecting mission is a good reason to get some exercise and fresh air.
I’m not just talking about the occasional freebie, besides the fresh air we have received for free:
coffee table
Linksys wrt110 router
6 sets of wooden shelves
2 sets of metal wire shelves
2 floor lamps
rolling desk chair
food processor (this was a long walk)
blank CDs and DVDs
bedside table
futon with mattress and cover
Large really nice mirror with wood frame
curtains and curtain rods
boppy pillow (I admit I just had to Google search what this is. My wife got it.)
pregnancy pillow
birthing ball
baby bouncer
baby food processor & steamer
multiple throw pillows
milk crates
nice table lamp with rice paper shade
bed risers
bed frame & box spring (two separate trips, two separate days, two separate Craigslist ads, but same people)
kitchen towel rack
baby swing
bottle sterilizer
TONS of baby clothes and blankets. (enough for different outfit everyday I think)
a few baby toys
baby bjorn
heart beat blanket
baby books
mobile
playmat
fuzzy bucket seat cover (like a blanket for the entire car seat)
2 baby bathtubs, infant & toddler
big bag of scrap fabric
40+ lightbulbs (still trying to give the excess away)
ironing board
toaster
Update 5/16/2015
Another glider
bumbo seat
more baby clothes
2 brestpumps, bottles, bags, nursing bra
An amazing foam tile ABC set
Solids feeding supplies for baby – cups, plates, bowls. High quality stuff.
And I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. In the meantime I’ve given away a few things, a flat screen monitor, an older laptop, and the router I mentioned earlier. Craigslist and Freecycle can’t be underestimated.
With as much as we gave up when we left, the kindness of strangers in the US have definitely given us more than we could have asked for. Perhaps it was living without so many amenities for those three years, but I feel triumphant at the power of giving, and the power of saving. I wish I could thank every person a second time for what they contributed to the list above.
