Freezer Kindness

It seems like the whole of the US has been having bad storms lately – tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods.  My area (metro Washington DC) has been no exception.  A big storm hit recently that caused lots of trees and branches to fall and electrical wires to be ripped down.  This, of course, meant loads of people (including us) lost power. 

When that happens, one tends to think of the “obvious” – things like, “It is super hot out, and now we have no AC…” or “The traffic lights are out, I hope there are no accidents,” or maybe the 1^st world issue, “No power??  How will I watch television?”.

But one thing I have never thought of when the power went out was, “OH NO, how will I ensure that all of this milk I pumped for my baby does not spoil??”.  I have never breastfed, so have never had to trouble shoot that problem.  But a neighbor, Jessica, ran into just that issue in the recent power outage.  I saw her post this message to the neighborhood Facebook group:

“To anyone who still has power, would you be willing to share some of your freezer space if the power isn’t back on by tomorrow? I have a sizable amount of frozen breastmilk for my newborn, and I’m worried about it thawing in the next 24 hours. Please let me know!”

At first, I was worried for her, but the replies started being posted very shortly after her plea, and it made my heart sing.  Neighbors were reaching out to HELP!!  Comments quickly popped up like, “If my power comes on first I will post here.  I have a deep freezer that I never use”.  And “I have power and can make some room, too”.  The coming together of community gave me goosebumps. 

I contacted Jessica and asked if it would be alright to share her story.  She said yes, and even told me a bit more about it.  Her baby was only 5 weeks old the afternoon they lost power, and look at what a cutie!!

I asked the mom of a newborn how long the power was out before she started to worry about the milk, and she said, “Frankly, I was concerned the minute it went out! Conventional wisdom says it should be fine for 24 hours if you don’t open the freezer, but as any mom who as breastfed can attest, every drop is so important. After about 6 hours with no power, I started to really worry”.

One of her co-workers offered to drop off ice that he’d picked up for his wife and their baby, but with no idea how long the power would be out, it wasn’t clear that solution would work, and Jessica didn’t want to drive to her friend’s house at 10 pm, so that’s when she turned to the neighborhood Facebook group.  She said, “I think I had responses within 5 minutes. At least 3 people offered up their freezers”.  Isn’t that terrific??

A sweet neighbor named Jesse stored the milk.  The power luckily our power came back on in the middle of the night, so the next day Jessica picked up the frozen milk and brought it back home. 

Jessica told me, “I feel a strong sense of community here and am very fortunate to live in a neighborhood where strangers help strangers!  I am so grateful to the people who responded, and it makes me even more likely to help out my neighbors any time I can. I was so stressed about the whole situation, and luckily that only lasted for a couple of hours thanks to the generosity of others.”

Kindness.  It doesn’t need to be elaborate.  It doesn’t need to be expensive.  It just needs to be heartfelt and genuine.  A little kindness can lighten the load of a neighbor, a friend, or a stranger.  Keep your eyes open and look for places YOU can spread some kindness today.