Spreading Holiday Cheer

Here, Alison explains how she organized her activity in her own words:

For my Organize an Activity, I chose to organize my family to make “Christmas cheer” for those living in care facilities. In addition to the virus itself, COVID-19 has created a pandemic of loneliness and the holidays will be no exception with these individuals unable to receive visitors. Ethics of the Person aims to “affirm that persons are special and precious and have a dignity that demands respect” (Weston, pg 562). My goal through this activity is that the recipients of this cheer will know someone is thinking of them and that they are loved and valued, that they are precious. Imagine a world where we cared more for our community, “some linked set of others with whom we have some compelling commonality” (Weston, pg 252). Maybe the commonality is our location, all of these care facilities are located in MN. Maybe the commonality is familial, my own grandmother lives at one of the facilities. In his book, “A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox,” Anthony Weston explains three implications that happen in response to us caring for our communities: 1) gratefulness for one another and the legacies we all inherit, 2) respect for each other, 3) a challenge to do our part to continue to add to the communities we are part of (Weston, pg 253-254). For me, this project hit home how important it is to care for those in our community. I hope my children also walked away feeling the same way. Maybe some day they’ll do a similar project with their children!

Want to organize a similar project? Here are Alison’s tips for YOU:

Although I felt my project went very well, there are a few concrete things future students could do differently that would help aid in their success:

1) Get out the phonebook (ie do a google search!) and start calling care facilities. Originally I wanted to make the deliveries myself, which meant I needed to find care facilities in my local area. Facebook and my NextDoor app weren’t enough to make that happen (I thought for sure these two platforms would bring me all the contacts I would need!). Lesson learned. I’m still happy to be mailing them up north, but would’ve loved the rush of dropping them off myself.

2) Schedule multiple days to make your crafts. There are so many people in care facilities and some of the facilities house hundreds of residents! My heart is breaking a little knowing we didn’t make enough to give to every resident at the facilities we’re mailing/delivering to.

3) If you have the pleasure of doing this in a “normal” year (read: without an ongoing pandemic), enlist EVERYBODY to help! I would’ve loved to have made this a giant crafting party with all my friends, their kids, and all of our kids’ friends. We could’ve easily made hundreds and hundreds of crafts. If COVID weren’t an issue I would’ve also made/decorated cookies to be delivered to the care staff at the facilities. Sky’s the limit without the restrictions of COVID! And of course, had COVID not been an issue, we would’ve scheduled a time to go caroling at the facilities and hand everything out ourselves. The conversations with the residents is always my favorite part of caroling.