When Two or Three Come Together

The narrow stream was filled with leaves and mud, causing it to back up to the pond where it would often overflow and creep into our backyards, heading dangerously towards the basements. The stream’s path runs under the driveway into our five unit condo association. From time to time, a couple of us would attempt to muck it out. It was steep-sided and slippery, running through a thick tangle of broken branches, reeds, jewelweed and nasty prickly shrubs. Getting it cleared out was a super-human task.  That is, it seemed super-human until very recently.

Last June two college students, while on a trip to Guatemala, began brainstorming about possibilities for a start-up business. What about a service to fill a need that’s overlooked right now? What about hiring some students who would work at an affordable rate for a couple of hours at jobs that older people can’t manage anymore? Or just don’t want to do anymore?

Thus, Students2Seniors was born.(www.students2seniors.com) The young women, Jenna and Natalya, drew up a business plan, incorporated as an LLC, and got to work. They are starting small but with a vision for a future that could include anything from cooking a meal, running an errand, gardening, a load or two of laundry, a bit of dusting and sweeping.

Or… mucking out clogged waterways! I heard about their business from the father of one of the women and it felt like an answer to prayer. It’s hard to admit, but my husband and I, like the majority of owners in our association, don’t have the staying power for messing around with rakes and shovels that we used to have. Plus, this was not a one-time job. Because the stream runs under our driveway and then under the street to eventually empty into the Sudbury River, all the gunk gets clogged up against the mouths of each culvert, backing up the water. Meanwhile the leaves keep falling and the jewelweed keeps spreading. Even if there were a company that could  solve our problem (and so far we haven’t found one)  it would bring in backhoes, leaf blowers and the like, spewing out dirty fumes and toxic gases, poisoning our wetlands. In addition, our condo fees would soar, due to the ongoing nature of the problem.

I, probably like you, have read dozens of articles and listened to countless pundits lamenting the state of youth today: self-absorbed, coddled and cosseted since birth and fixated on one screen or another at all times.  Indeed, in many cases, that is true.  But for every one of those young people, I believe there are the Natalyas and the Jennas of this world and their student employees, some still in high school, who are motivated to find opportunities for service and hard work. As Jenna told me, they chose the name Students2Seniors deliberately, so that it goes both ways. We who have many miles on us have something to give too, be it carpentry skills, writing poetry or sharing a favorite recipe. Something for older folks to pass on to younger ones, benefitting both parties.

I chose the words “circling around God” as the subtitle for this blog, not fully knowing where it might lead me. My intention was to watch for the moments of God-essence, that is: when an event or a person or an experience struck me as extra-ordinary, infused with a spark of graciousness, loving-kindness, and generosity. A moment of inspiration, which Webster’s Dictionary defines as “a divine influence or action”.  Students2Seniors fits the category. Two ordinary college students inspired to make their corner of the world a little better.

Our stream is running smoothly now. Jenna and her employee Julia spent about eight hours ankle deep in mud and cold water, heaving piles of leaves and grasses and shovels full of mud up onto the banks, then stuffing them into compostable bags for the town compost station. Strong backs and youthful energy did the trick; no noisy heavy machinery needed. The water is clean and clear, it moves on to the river and then on its long journey to the sea, where it will be taken up into the atmosphere, form clouds and return one day to the land.  The cycle continues, as it is meant to do. When two or three come together, when a handful of  people dream big, when even an eight hour job makes one small area cleaner and safer, the planet can begin to heal.