Lifting spirits during pandemic
The world is dealing with a coronavirus pandemic, but difficult times often bring out the best in people. Neighbours help neighbours. Strangers help strangers. We want to hear what you’re doing to lift spirits or make a difference during this challenging time. Share your story and/or photo by emailing reply@calgaryherald.com.
CHALK ONE UP FOR INSPIRATION
Lana Filipic certainly knows how to lift her neighbours’ spirits. The Calgary optometrist has been carefully writing, in chalk, inspirational quotes on the sidewalks of her Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. With so many people going for walks during the pandemic, the chalk messages provide a positive thought — and something unique — for passersby to contemplate. When the messages wear out, or wash away with rain, Filipic simply adds new quotes from people such as Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Ali and Pharrell Williams. One favourite comes from Ali: “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”
LIGHTS ON FOR LOVE
Every little bit of kindness can help people get through these challenging times, and that prompted Rob Butler and Tannis Hushagen to turn their self-described “boring fence into a ‘Lights of Love’ display.”
“We hope our heart-shaped lights put a smile on people’s face and spread a little joy and hope,” the pair says. “It’s not the biggest light show ever, but it sends the right message.”
DRESSING FOR DINNER
Patricia Cavill is another person who knows how to inject a bit of joyful colour into someone’s day. On March 25, she started an athome project called Dressing for Dinner. In response to the popularity of wearing pyjamas while working at home, Cavill started wearing a different outfit every night for dinner and posting it on
Facebook for followers and friends to see. She sometimes matches the outfit to a table setting or painting in her home.
Cavill says that as someone who had a home office for 21 years, she knows how important appropriate workwear can be, even when working at home. The 72-year-old volunteers at The Walk-in Closet — a Calgary non-profit that provides low-income women with work-appropriate clothes. “I can indulge my passion for fashion and see first hand what dressing well can do for a woman’s self-esteem,” she says. “A different woman leaves our place than walks in.”