FPA Blog

In today’s normally busy world it’s easy to get lost in all the things we are supposed to do and forget about what we really care about. Of course maintenance things like washing dishes, doing laundry, dusting now and again (not for everyone of course) and my favorite, pulling weeds and deadheading flowers are things we just do and not give it much thought. We know if we neglect doing the “maintenance things” those chores easily pile up and become overwhelming. Then it takes huge amounts of energy to get them done, a motivation in and of itself.

During our time of shelter-in-place my maintenance chores are done right away as I look for things to fill my time. Are you experiencing the same? I have to admit however there were days when it was hard to get out of bed. I felt so depressed over the financial crisis and saddened deeply with what is going on for far too many of us right now. Part of me wanted to run to New York to pitch in and DO something for all those suffering souls. Unfortunately I chose social work in college instead of nursing as needles gave me the creeps. Because of that decision, I don’t have much to offer the medical profession other than meditation and prayers to those areas where the pandemic is destroying so many lives.

I can however use this time to figure out what I really care about and ask the same of you. Since I lost my job because of the shut down it leaves me with big questions like what to do with the rest of my life. Has this experience left you with big questions? If so, what are they and how will you answer? It will be interesting to see what unfolds or where you put your energy…what you care about.

If you are reading this column you may care about Forestville. I worry about our small businesses and how can they survive. Are there ways to support them? I’ve been ordering take out once in awhile but our restaurants are suffering for sure. Thankfully Speers, the hardware store, pharmacy, laundromat and gas station are open but how is the dentist doing? The Service Station? The coffee shops? The realtors? The chiropractors? The wine shops? The antique store? The hair salons? The bike shop? Sending them love and hope that once this is behind us we can fully support them in their recovery.

Nonprofits are hurting too. If you care about feeding those who have health challenges, Food For Thought could use some help. Log onto fftfoodbank.org and contribute to their “virtual food drive.” The Food Closet run by the Methodist Church is also seeing increased need. They had to drop all their fundraising activities like Soul Café which brought in money to support the Food Closet so please consider them. All the folks getting food from them are Forestville residents by the way.

With the Youth Park BBQ not happening this year they are going to need us to step up as much as we can to keep them going. If you or your kids benefitted from the Youth Park in your history you should consider re-upping your membership for $35. Add more funding if you remember long summer days watching your kids play ball there.

West County Community Services are doing an amazing job watching out for the homeless folks along the lower river. They operate on a very slim margin yet provide a wide range of support to those less fortunate. They want you to know that there is subsidized child care services through River to Coast Childcare for essential workers who must go to work yet their kids are out of school for the rest of the year. Go to mychildcare.ca.gov to learn more.

There isn’t much we can do for those folks in New York or the other “hot spots” like Sioux Falls where I spent summers as a kid visiting my grandma. She lived not all that far from the pork plant now in the news. What we can do closer to home right now is send money, even if it’s just a little, to the nonprofits I mentioned or ones I didn’t list that you care about. Continue take-out meals from time to time as well. Meanwhile, the question remains. How to use this time wisely? Let this very unusual time in our lives help us figure out what we really care about so going forward we spend our precious time working on what matters. To us.