community care is all around us

I’ve been thinking a lot about community death care lately.

Community care is all around us.

Today I noticed something I have seen many times. Each week the people who work for my city’s waste management take the time to get the trash and recycling bins for one of my neighbors. They take the bin to the street and return the bin to her yard. Every single week. These people are taking care of my neighbor. They are providing community care. I don’t know how many people they do this for every single day.

Watching people take extra time from their day makes me wonder the little ways we can take care of those living in our communities. I say this with the hope that death care will continue to transition back to a community level and the people performing this labor will be appropriately compensated for their work. But I also like to think about the small things we can do for one another every single day.

Image description: A pink background has a lighter and brighter area in the middle. The words COMMUNITY CARE IS ALL AROUND US is written in black capital lettering.