Lydia Likes It

Scarf bombing

Do you live near a great fence? Is that fence in a park, or in front of a community center or shelter or food pantry? Is there a fence around your house of worship? Now that it's officially Fall, it's time to plan some scarf bombing. Ten years ago, scarves appeared around the necks of famous statues in Ottawa, Canada, on a chilly January day. Each scarf was tagged with a note that read: “I am not lost! If you are stuck out in the cold, take this scarf to keep warm.” It was later revealed that some university students were behind the good deed. The incident went viral, and is part of a movement now known as “scarf bombing” — leaving handmade scarves in public places to warm people up during the winter months. The scarves are typically tied around fences, benches and railings, and are especially intended to support those experiencing homelessness. In downtown Boston, where I live, there are areas in Boston Common where homeless men and woman congregate, but also where lots of tourists and students walk by. I'm going to start making scarves (they might be knit or crocheted, or cut from fleece) and tying them on fences near me. If you'd like to join me, please let me know.

Settling in

Do you have furniture that no longer fits your lifestyle, your space, or your needs? Here's an idea: give your furniture a second life in the home of someone who really needs it. We donated this couch -- only a few years old, and in nearly mint condition -- to the International Institute of New England, which, among the many services it provides to refugees and immigrants, sets up apartments for families moving out of shelters. IINE arranged for someone to pick up the couch and deliver it to the new apartment, and they provided us with a donation letter for tax purposes -- along with lots of gratitude, on behalf of the organization and the new couch sitters. If you are planning your own move and have furniture or other household goods you'd like to donate, please don't hesitate to contact an organization like IINE.

Civic Shout

What's better than a petition that's a bit left-leaning, brief and to-the-point, from a nonprofit partner organization you trust on an issue you care about, that comes right into your inbox and you can sign with your email address? Civic Shout, based in Delaware, sends me one or two petitions each day, on topics like protecting old-growth forests, racial justice, urging Congress not to give public land to mining companies, extending the deadline for higher education financial aid, and protecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. For each petition, you know what organization is sponsoring it, and what the key text of the petition advocates. Sign the petitions you support, and skip the ones you don't. This is not a fundraising operation; it's strictly petitions created by some of the best known nonprofits, like Sierra Club, Save the Children, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Amnesty International and more, on issues that are near and dear to my heart. I've looked all through their site, and there doesn't seem to be a way to sign up, but if you skim through their list of most recent petitions and sign one, I think that will get you on the Civic Shout mailing list. I'm sure that's how they found me, and I'm so glad they did.

What's new in your neighborhood?

Call me old-fashioned, but I love neighborhood newsletters, the kind that come in my email inbox and keep me up-to-date on what's going on where I live. Events, arts, celebrations, sports, volunteer opportunities, new restaurants and shops opening, old favorites bidding my community farewell: it's all there. I'm very lucky to have two neighborhood newsletters land in my inbox every week: Sampan, the official communication from Chinatown in Boston, where I live now; and Fig City News, that's teaching me a lot about the community Ted and I will be moving to late in 2025 in Newton, a Boston suburb. Both newsletters are free of charge.

The volunteering life {job interview practice}

Long-term commitments and one-off events share space in my volunteering life, and provide the balance I crave. The relationships I've nurtured with two nonprofit agencies that serve immigrants and refugees -- Jewish Vocational Services and International Institute of New England -- ensure that both types of opportunities, from both agencies, cross my desk frequently. Several months ago, during an in-person job interview practice session, I met a young woman who had come to Boston in early 2023. In Haiti, she had worked as an environmental scientist, but here she planned to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, for which there are many openings in the Boston area, so she could be self-supporting and also help her mother and other family back home. After we finished our 45-minute meeting, I gave her my contact information and offered to answer questions or provide any other help she needed as she continued her job search. A few days later, I got a message from her asking if I'd be willing to talk with her once a week, so she could practice her conversational English. And from that time, we've been Zooming for an hour every week, with no particular agenda, just talking and getting comfortable, with gentle corrections here and there. Lately we've been talking about the political situation in Haiti, the safety of her family there, and how we wish the violence would end. We're learning a lot from each other. Oh, by the way, she's found a great new job, too.