Card by Rachel Fia at http://www.fiasdesigns.com

If you have had a chance to listen to my interview with AJ Mizes on his Share, Inspire, Repeat show, you will have already heard these two stories. However, as we end this week, I wanted to tell them again for all those that haven’t heard them because….well they just make me feel so darn good.

In the early days of the Bring Smiles to Seniors program, before we expanded to deliver in all 50 states, we delivered cards by hand to senior residences. The activities director would take Linda and I to each room to hand deliver the cards to the residents. There are two particular instances that stand out for both of us that are my go to stories when I want to show the power of your work and what one single card can do.

The first happened in one of our first senior communities that we ever delivered to. On our rounds we went into one particular room where the activities director told us that the woman in the room did not speak and she would not be able to open and read the card. She asked if we would open the card and read it to the woman and she would then sit it on the side of her bed. This happened to be one of the cards written by a student at one of the local schools. So, Linda took the card out of the envelope and read the message that the student had written. She then showed the picture of the card to the lady in the bed. As soon as she did, the lady looked up at Linda, stared in her eyes and said “Thank You”. We thought the activities director was going to fall over as she had not heard the woman speak. It was then that we knew we were on to something great.

The second situation happened a few months later in a different senior community. Again on our rounds with the activities director, we encountered a gentleman that was sitting in a wheelchair. As the other activities director had done, this particular one said that the man was immobile and that he would not be able to hold the card and asked if we could remove the card and read it to him. Once again Linda worked her magic, removed the card and read the message. She then showed the front of the card to the man. To everyone’s amazement, the man then reached up and took the card out of Linda’s hand. The card moved him so much that he found the power and will to move.

These are two, but there are many stories from those days. It was a validation that the work that we had done to start this program was well worth it. The experiences proved to us that we were on to something powerful and that all the love that goes into making, writing messages and decorating the cards combine to create something magical and wonderful that proves that a card is not just a piece of paper.

Have a great weekend and remember to be the reason someone smiles.

Ron

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