Little acts of kindness make a big dfference
Tipp City woman offers ‘gentle reminder that tough times don’t last.’
TIPP CITY— Pamela Hale wanted towork for a nonprofifit for a long time. Then, COVID-19 opened the door to a nonprofifit of her own.
After retiring from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Hale went towork last year for the Tipp City based Pink Ribbon Girls non profit.
When the pandemic struck, she was laid of. Before long, shewas back in the nonprofifit world, this time at the helm of Little Kindness.
Her motto: “Something small makes a big difference.”
She started her kindness gestures with chemotherapy bags for patients at Troy Hospital’s Cancer Care Center. The project was close to her heart following the loss of a close friend and her sister-in-law to cancer.
“I knew the things they needed while sitting there going through the chemo. They get really cold, their lips dry out,” she said.
“I feel like God put it on myheart to start doing these bags,” Hale said.
Throughout this diffifficult year, people in our community like Hale have persevered and gone out of their waytohelponeanother. This monththeDaytonDailyNews will tell the stories of individuals who have inspired others in a newseries called Inspire Dayton.
Ea ch ba g Hale puts together contains a water bottle; handmade afghan, prayer shawl or quilt; socks and scarves in winter; lip balm; lotions and other care items. Whilemost of the bags have been given to referrals from the cancer care center, others were provided to patients suggested by churches, familyandfriends.
Shepurchases some items for the bagswhile others are donated, including thehandmade items. She’s driven to areas from St. Paris to Fairborn to pick up donations.
When COVID limited the opportunities to provide the chemo bags, Hale turned to the cause of teachers.
“Theyjusttugonmyheart. They are going through so much trying to reach the kids” in the pandemic learning environment, she said.
She made 120 back to school cards for staffff at Tipp City’sNevinCoppock, Broadway and L.T. Ball Intermediate schools. The cards had a grading pen and a candy “hug” on each. She later made 60 lunches for staffff at the Tipp CityMiddle School.
She posts inspiring and uplifting quotes daily on the Little Kindness Facebook page.
Hale alsowrote 225 inspiring andencouraging cards to every neighbor in her Tipp City housing plat when the state shut down earlier this year due to COVID-19.
Little Kindness also provided around 400 inspiring cards to The New Path food pantry at Ginghamsburg Church in August.
“These were cards that were sending encouraging messages to folks thatwould visit our food pantry. We simply placed the cards in the food pantry boxes we handed out,” said Bill Lutz, NewPath’s executive director. “Itwas a gentle reminder that tough times don’t last.”
The nonprofifit has been a positive for her during the days of COVID-19, Hale said.
“I really think this is a God-thing, not something I dreamed up myself,” she said.