What Impact Will You Make?

Jane Woodall once said, "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

We drove two hours towards the Ukraine border to visit the Anna-Maria organization. We were warmly greeted by the mayor, Maria Andričiková, and several clients. 

Dr. Andre, who started this NGO a couple years ago noticed his elderly patients suffered from depression, isolation, and inactivity some were dying early. He rented building space and created locations in three villages for the elderly citizens to socialize and create handicrafts together. He received help from NGO Anna-Marie to operate the center and provide activities for the communities.

The mayor shared his gratitude to LDS Charities for the hundreds of art supplies provided for upcoming months. Maria said to the group the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are kind-hearted wonderful people. She than asked us to provide a magnifying headlamp to a man who is nearly blind and needs it to see what he is doing like putting jigsaw puzzles together.

A few of the talented ladies hand-crocheted beautiful lace doilies and were presented as gifts. 

These elderly folks then sang with their hoarse and crackly voices but it was so appreciated. Upon request, one performed a solo song and dance.

Maria asked the group to think of Jesus and how they had been blessed. She then asked Greg to pray while Antonia translated it. Although, we were a bit surprised, we were grateful to offer a prayer of thanks for all our many blessings and this opportunity to work together. We were so grateful to create a partnership with these wonderful people. 

Maria told us that some of these seniors didn't want to participate in crafts because they were not little kids. But over time, they have come to appreciate the benefits of working with their hands and to create beautiful art. During a ceramic workshop, one complained of shoulder pain and she wasn't able to roll clay dough.

Maria told her if she could roll pastry dough she certainly could roll clay. She considered this and soon found great enjoyment working with clay and forming simple shapes. She later reported that she had forgotten all about the pain in her shoulders.