Help.
Your neighbors need it.
I was planning to write about New England escapes this week, but every time I got ready to post, it just felt wrong. So instead I’ve rounded up a few ways to help your friends and neighbors as the holidays approach and so many are having trouble affording the basic needs. This feels like a daunting problem, but the average SNAP household in America receives a monthly benefit of $332 and if you are lucky enough to not require SNAP assistance to buy your own family groceries, then you’re lucky enough to help someone else.
For all of these four recommendations, I recommend Googling versions in your local community rather than funding national organizations. If you can also volunteer some time to help locally, even better. This newsletter is about beautiful home design, but living somewhere beautiful is pretty worthless if you’re not also building community.
This is my number one. Diapers are so expensive and it’s truly heartbreaking to imagine how it must feel as a parent of a little kid to be unable to provide them.
Food Pantries
This one is perhaps obvious, but it’s worth saying because it really is the first place people go for help.
The Buddy System
I’ve been seeing this pop up and I really love it. Basically you post on a local group (Facebook or otherwise) that you’re looking for someone who had lost their SNAP benefits and either they send you their grocery list and you just shop for them when you shop for yourself, you meet up and shop together, or you just meet up and give them a gift card for a grocery store. All these ways sound lovely, but I have to say that if I were in need of groceries, I think I’d prefer to just get the card. I know you’re not judging your buddy for what they’re buying, but I can imagine feeling self-conscious all the same.
Toys
In November toy drives will start and so will programs where you can buy gifts directly from kids wish lists. I do this every year and it is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. You get to shop for what often feels like a riddle, “boy, 10, loves dinosaurs, cooking and sneakers,” for example, and then you get to spoil the crap out of that kid. It’s so fun, and I think also a nice way to teach your own kids about privilege and the joy of helping others. Even if SNAP benefits are reinstated before the holidays, a lot of those families are going to feel extra strained for the holidays and this is a great way to ease some of that pressure.
Now, as always, a few good links from around the internet:
This is an ad for a hedge trimmer, but it’s still amazing.
I’ve been so interested in this trend of finding ways to make your smartphone less addictive. Here’s two of my favorite design solutions:
And finally, some dogs in halloween costumes.
