contributed photo
Barb Young of Sauk Rapids holds up birthday tote bags sewn by volunteers from old fabric remnants that Young stored away in her home.
Young, a former eighth-grade teacher in Becker, is an ambassador for the AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP “Happiness in Action” program.
by Dennis Dalman
Nineteen women and one man gathered at the Sartell Community Center on the afternoon of March 16 to assemble 50 birthday bags for people who depend upon area food shelves.
Working in small groups, the participants all signed each of 50 birthday cards. Then they wrapped other gifts – candy, birthday candles, decks of cards, boxes of cake mix and other fun items and put them in festive, colorful hand-sewn tote bags.
One of the unusual gifts was a can of carbonated soda placed in each bag. That is because a can of soda pop or carbonated water can be added to a boxed cake mix as a substitute for the usual two or three eggs and 2/3 cup vegetable oil. Those people who don’t happen to have on hand oil or eggs (or who cannot afford them) can just mix up the cake-box contents with the carbonated water, pour the mix in a pan, bake it and – voila – out of the oven pops a cake, a birthday cake.
The gift-wrapping and inspirational-talk session was an event presented by “Happiness in Action,” a program formed by AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP. RSVP stands for “Retired Senior and Volunteer Program.”
Here is a summary of the recipe a volunteer attached to the cans of soda-pop before placing them in the birthday bags:
“In a large bowl, combine the boxed cake mix contents with a 12-ounce can of soda or sparkeling water. Mix with an electric beater according to the box instructions. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake as indicated in the instructions.”
The birthday bags will be made available at area food shelves so if someone in a family has an upcoming birthday when they receive food, that person – adult or child – will be presented a birthday bag.
Birthday-bag volunteerism is just one example of how people can become healthier and happier through social interactions and good deeds. The participants at the Sartell Community Center clearly had a good time, with lots of bantering conversation, give-and-take comments and wisecracks, and all-around good humor.
The afternoon began with a pep talk given by Barb Young of Sauk Rapids, a retired eighth-grade schoolteacher. Many studies and surveys, she said to the group, have shown social isolation and loneliness can cause anxiety, depression, negative outlooks and – just as bad – high blood pressure, heart problems and other bad-health outcomes. Those, she noted, can occur especially among elderly people, some of whom lose their family and social connections as they age.
Speaker Barb Young shared what are called “Keys to Health through Happiness.”
Social connections
Reach out to a family member or friend whom you haven’t spoken to in months or years.
Consider joining a support group to meet with people facing similar isolation challenges.
Take a class or join an activity to interact with new and interesting people.
Reach out to a neighbor or neighbors, if only just to chat briefly.
Volunteer with others to enrich one’s community.
Resilience tools
Three good things: Write down three good things each day to reaffirm what’s going well in one’s life.
Make social connections: They reduce stress in life.
Gratitude: Expressing gratitude is a powerful way to spread happiness to others while building personal resilience.
Kindness: Doing a “random act of kindness” is an effective way to show one cares for someone else while at the same time enhancing one’s own self-worth and confidence.
Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a mental practice to be “present in the world” at any given moment, and that awareness helps transform suffering into joy and peace.
Purpose: Purpose is a recognition that we belong to and serve something bigger than ourselves.
Young, the speaker, was one of four AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP “ambassadors” who participated in the birthday-bag wrapping session. They visit places in area counties where they host various Happiness in Action projects and experiences. Through RSVP, there are volunteer options for people in 130 locations in central Minnesota.
To find out more about AmeriCorps RSVP, visit www.RSVPCentralMN.org. Or call or visit its St. Cloud office in the Whitney Senior Center at 320-255-7295.
At the Sartell Community Center, Mike Sawin of Sauk Rapids and Julie Forsberg of Sartell gather up items to place in birthday bags that will be given to visitors to area food shelves if they happen to be having upcoming birthdays.
