Summer Projects: Use This Season to Improve Yourself, Help Others, and Nurture Family Life

What are you and your family doing this summer?

Without camps to keep the kids busy and vacations to plan, summertime 2020 may seem dismal. Still, thinking creatively about incorporating spirituality, self-improvement, and service into your family’s life could provide teaching moments along with family togetherness.

My ideas are based loosely on Scripture teachings on the seven Corporal Works of Mercy. I’m sure you can think of many others.

Feed the Hungry

• Research, identify and contribute financially to organizations that serve the hungry.
• Try not to purchase more food than you are able to eat. If you notice that you end up throwing groceries away each week, purchasing less groceries would eliminate waste.
• Organize your kitchen – Keep supplies up to date, throw away expired food and donate extras to the needy.
• Plan your meals a week at a time to conserve food and calories. Keep a list of the foods in your freezer and date them.
  
  

Give Drink to the Thirsty

• Donate to help build wells for water for those in need.
• Make an effort not to waste water.

Shelter the Homeless

• Consider volunteering or financially supporting food banks, such as Catholic Charities’ Cantlay Center.
• Donate time or money to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity that build homes for those who need shelter.
• Donate warm blankets to homeless shelters.

Visit the Sick

• Give blood.
• Spend time volunteering at a nursing home.
• Offer to assist caregivers of chronically sick family members.
• Next time you make a meal that can be easily frozen, make a double batch and give it to a family who has a sick loved one.
• Plan for sickness – Fill out your health care directive and give copies to your partner and family.

Visit the Prisoners

• Consider supporting the Diocese of Orange’s Restorative Justice and Detention Ministry.
• Donate to charities that give Christmas presents to children whose parents are in prison.

Bury the Dead

• Send a sympathy card to someone who has recently lost a loved one. 
• Spend time planning your own funeral.
• Visit the graves of your friends and relatives.
• Plan for your passing – Write a will, purchase your plot, inform your family of your wishes.

Give Alms to the Poor

• Skip the morning latte and put that money toward a good cause.
• Help the suffering: Make sure you continue to donate to the needy during this period of isolation.
• Find a charity that is meaningful to you and volunteer your time or donate. 

Other Ways to Incorporate Mercy

• Reach out to the lonely – Call, text, or email a friend every day.
• Nurture family ties – Have a good conversation with a family member.
• Love your enemies – Forgive someone who has hurt you.
• Organize your finances – Reconcile your bank accounts, make payments on time, make sure your next of kin knows where your money is.

​Spirituality

• Praise God – Sustain daily prayer life.
• Read Scripture – Get in touch with the word of God.
• Love your family – Plan and execute family meals, including family members via livestreaming on Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype or FaceTime if necessary.
• Love your enemies – Forgive someone who has hurt you.

Conservation and Stewardship

• Be good to animals – Play with your dog or cat or adopt a pet.
• Get in touch with nature – Take a walk in the sunshine.
• Take care of the Earth – Improve your recycling efforts.
• Atone for your sins – Make a spiritual or in-person confession.
• Clothe the naked – Donate used, clean clothing to a charity like Goodwill Industries.
• Develop your skills – Hone a practical skill such as cooking or baking.
• Cleanliness is next to godliness – Develop good housekeeping habits.
• Minimalism brings us closer to God – Pare down your possessions.
• Conserve resources – Use less gas, don’t turn on the air conditioner, drive less.
• Conserve food – Eat less.
• Get your vitamins – Eat healthier foods and take vitamins.
• Make the world more beautiful – Improve your front yard.
• Take care of your home – Paint it inside and out, wash the walls, power-spray the walkways.

Self-Improvement

• Expand your horizons – Read an article or book chapter every day.
• Improve your mind – Tackle something complicated every day.
• Get in touch with your feelings – Create and sustain a journaling habit.
• Do a workout every day.
• Be happy – Cultivate a positive frame of mind.
• Look inward – Practice prayer, meditation, and mindfulness.

​All these ideas will make you happier, make your kids feel like they have a purpose in their life and help you to think with a higher goal in mind. Give it a try…

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