No Good Deed Goes Unnoticed

Coronavirus is infectious. So is kindness.

Senator Roegner and her family caught the "bug" out delivering groceries in Hudson for Christ Community Chapel. Inside each bag was a little message sharing God’s love.

“Just seeing their eyes light up with joy, we thought, 'This is so cool.’”

The Roegners were hooked.

They decided to begin a family campaign of One Good Deed a Day. With all three daughters out of school and her husband Eric working from home, they realized that each day was a new opportunity to help someone.

Sometimes kindness has been a plate of baked brownies or a hot meal for their neighbors.

Some days, they’ve chosen a road in Hudson to “adopt” and pick up bags of litter and recyclables.

As the grocery stores ran out of daily staples, they brought fresh eggs from their farm to neighbors in need.

Other times, they loaded chopped logs onto their pickup truck and delivered it to neighbors who had run out of firewood. 

And then their good deeds during the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the opioid epidemic.

Her daughter’s friend found out that her dad was eligible for parole. He had been in jail many years and was finally clean. She asked Senator Roegner to write a letter to the parole board in his support.

So she did. She wrote about the man she knew before his opioid addiction and crime conviction. She used her words to describe a time when he was a kind neighbor, always ready to help.

In the words of ODH State Director Dr. Amy Acton, “Timing is everything, and every day matters… This is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, and everything each of us does matters."

The Roegner Family is living proof.

What You Can Do

Since we are largely limited to being around family, enlist your spouse, children, or roommates to do good deeds! Here’s some ideas that can help flatten the curve without breaking the bank:

• Bake cookies or brownies for a neighbor who’s struggling

• When you’re headed to the grocery stores, check in with a phone call or text to neighbors to see if they need anything

• Pick a street or park to “adopt” and take a day out in the sun to pick up trash

• Offer to walk your neighbor’s dog

• Since we have more time in the house and less social interaction, check in with a friend you haven’t heard from or send an encouraging bible verse to someone you know is struggling

• Return to simpler times and spread cheer with a kind letter in the mail