One of the beautiful things about the Bring Smiles to Seniors program is that I never have to walk alone. I am surrounded by volunteers, card angels, card decorators, schools, civic organizations, companies and passionate people that care about our seniors. We all have a common mission to ensure that seniors are reminded that they are not forgotten, loved and an important part of the fabric of our society. But that was not always the case.

As we go through life, we tend to move with the masses. If we aren’t leaders, then we simply follow and that often takes us in the same direction of everyone else. When we venture off the paths that we are most comfortable with, it is only then that we find ourselves in places that no one has ever been. It can be uncomfortable, frightening, lonely and at times down right stressful in the beginning. However, as it all starts to come together, and that definitely takes time, what eventually happens is you emerge from the norm and realize that you have truly created something special.

The beginning days of the Bring Smiles to Seniors program were lonely. We had no donors, no cards, no new senior communities to which we could deliver. We were attempting something that had probably been done in smaller ways in other places, but we were not settling for small, we wanted this to be something much bigger than that. Fortunately for me, I had Linda in the beginning, so I was not completely alone. However, we were alone in the sense that we had no guidance regarding what we were supposed to do and we had to just trust out instinct, faith and belief that what we were embarking on was bigger than the both of us.

Once we committed to the path and were all in, there was no stopping us. The cards, people, senior communities, civic groups, schools, program participants and just enough money to survive started to arrive from unexpected places. Word started to spread, the money we spent on advertising on social media paid off and here we find ourselves delivering to all 50 states and surpassing 125,000 cards in seniors hands since the program started.

All through life we are presented with choices. We can choose to either continue to move with the masses and live an ordinary yet sometimes fulfilled life. Or we can take a chance and go down that unknown path that often leads to something extraordinary. There is no question that I have far more enjoyed the latter and I wish the same for you.

Mornings with Ron is available as a podcast at anchor.fm/morningswithron or on iHeartRadio, Apple or Google Podcast, Spotify or most podcast sites.