Before we start on “what” to do for your friend with cancer, let’s talk about how. Have you ever participated in bringing a new mom or surgery patient meals for a week or two? It works great because of two principles that make the process easier for everyone: the meals are 1) offered with specifics, and 2) requested with selection.
Let’s talk about requesting help with selection first. You might want to share this principle with your friend with cancer. When you want to bring meals for someone, you don’t find someone to cover Monday, and then start over to find someone to cover Tuesday. Instead, you let each person know the range of meals to be provided, to give them the most possible chances of saying yes. I call this “taking care of your volunteers” because, between you and me, no one likes to say no to a friend with cancer. If your friend needs a ride to chemo this Thursday at 2PM, the chances are far too high you’ll have a conflict on that day at that time. If your friend lets you know about a couple needs, you’ll do the biggest thing you can, and you’ll both be more comfortable. It’s hard to get a no and then go on to the next person to ask again. We want her to get a yes on her way to getting help with the “first big thing” she needs. She won’t have to ask everyone for everything, just keep asking until that urgent need is met. If your friend asks for one thing, and you can’t do it, I recommend you say “I’m sorry I can’t do that, but I’m sure there are other ways I could help.” Then go on to offer help with selection, which I’ll talk about in our next post.
By the way, if you help coordinate meals, check out www.takethemameal.com. Our church has started using this great new website, and we love it!
No comments:
Post a Comment