upworthy

Jane Scearce

More

These glimpses into the lives of caregivers prove they're real unsung heroes.

True
Ad Council + AARP

You only need a day to see how much caregivers do for their loved ones.

Being a caregiver is a labor of love. More than 40 million Americans do it for no pay and little recognition. So many caregivers started out caring for someone, then stepped up to take care of them.

If we looked into their daily lives, what would we see?

We'd see them keeping up the good memories.

Like Patty and Justin Lancaster, who have a lifetime of great memories from their mom, Lulu. There was no question in their mind that they'd be there for her when she lost most of her short-term memory abilities to Alzheimer's.

"She'll say to me, 'It's so great that you take me to all these places,' and I'll say, 'Mom, you were the one that took all my friends, surfboards, stinky wetsuits, everything, down to the beach at 6 a.m. [and] came back at 6 p.m.' ... She was the perfect mom. So I have no recourse but just to be ... a good son." — Justin

All GIFs via Ad Council/YouTube.

We'd see them doing everything for family.

Brent Hamer takes amazing care of his wife, Ruth, who lost nearly all of her mobility to Parkinson's disease. He does everything from scratching her nose to waking up in the night to turn Ruth over in case she gets uncomfortable. And when he faced a real transportation need, his community recognized his service and stepped up to give back.

"As for me, I feel privileged to be able to do this [for my wife]." — Brent

We'd see them honoring what it means to be a friend.

After their friend Bill suffered a stroke, Donna and Nicki went above and beyond to honor their friendships and stepped in as his caregivers. What better way to show that family is what you make it?

"I honestly get something out of it. ... When you [get to] continue interacting with someone who you've been interacting with for 40 years, it's like a gift." — Donna

Basically, we'd see them caring. A lot.

That's why AARP spent 24 hours filming a day in the life of caregivers of all sorts across the country, giving us snapshots into what they do every single day.

Why do we need to see this? Because caregivers do so much, and it doesn't get enough recognition.

According to a study done by AARP:

  • One-quarter of those caregivers have been in their roles for five years or longer.
  • Only half of family caregivers say they get unpaid help from another family member or friend.
  • On average,caregiversspend24.4hoursaweekprovidingcaretotheirlovedone.
  • Nearly one-quarter provide 41 or more hours a week.

That's a lot of care.

So let's take a moment to truly recognize and appreciate caregivers everywhere — they deserve it.

Most Shared

Kid President 'upgrades' a school in his hometown, and it's a message for us all.

Students at Lincoln Magnet School for Mathematics and Science in Jackson, Tennessee, had a surprise this week.

True
Microsoft Devices

If we want to make the world a better place, we can take a cue from Kid President.

Kid President (aka 11-year-old Robby Novak) has had an awesome and busy year: He made a lot of videos, wrote a book, and even met the president of the United States himself.

After all that, he totally deserves a vacation. Bye, Kid President, see you in the spring!

GIFs via SoulPancake/YouTube.

Just kidding! There's something he needs to check off his list before he goes. And Mr. President has a plan.

Kid President wants to upgrade the world, and he needs your help.

You know how before you leave on vacation, there's a laundry list of things to do before you can hop on that plane and truly enjoy yourself? He has one too.

Before he leaves on vacation, he just has to do one little thing: upgrade the world. Going through his fan mail, he sees a question. A fan wants to help do some good in the world but doesn't know where to start.

Kid President has a few ideas:

Did you notice how that box got smaller and smaller and then was finally checked off? Nice work, Mr. President!

Kid President decided to take his own advice and upgrade his world in a real way — with a donation to a school in his home state of Tennessee.

Students at Lincoln Magnet School for Mathematics and Science in Jackson, Tennessee, had a surprise this week: a visit from Kid President himself.

With the help of Microsoft, Kid President donated 20 Microsoft Surface 3 tablets to the school — as well as 20 copies of his book, "Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome."

Image via Microsoft.

Kid President and "Kid President" creator Brad Montague (who is also Robby's brother-in-law) visited the school last Wednesday to deliver the Surface tablets and books.

And it all came in this fancy cart! Image via Microsoft.

Robby lives with his family in Tennessee's Chester County, and he told The Jackson Sun that he wanted to give back to a school in his own backyard.

The Surface tablets will help students at the school with everything from reading PDFs and digital textbooks to taking notes and doing homework from the cloud.

"The thing that was exciting to me was the idea of a second-grade student or first-grade student here holding one of these devices and feeling empowered and feeling that somebody believed in them and that they could do anything," Montague told The Jackson Sun.

This donation is part of Windows' year-long "Upgrade Your World" initiative to celebrate those who inspire and empower others.

Windows is using its "Upgrade Your World" initiative to bring $10 million to 110 nonprofits tackling a range of issues and opportunities, like the Special Olympics, Pencils of Promise, and Code.org.

Interested in being a part of this? Check out how other organizations are upgrading their communities and see how Windows 10 can help.

More

This man mentors kids by repairing their bikes. Then NASA thanked him.

True
Dignity Health old

Trent Griffin got a surprise when NASA Cmdr. Scott Kelly sent him a special thank you on ABC's "Good Morning, America" — live from space.

GIF via ABC/YouTube.

Kelly, a NASA astronaut on board the International Space Station, video-chatted from the International Space Station to thank Griffin for his dedication to community service in Huntsville, Alabama, home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Griffin volunteers with the local Juvenile Conference Committee for underserved youth, visits schools to teach kids science experiments to do at home, and is the president of the Northwest Huntsville Neighbor Association.

But that's not the only reason why the NASA commander wanted to give Griffin some praise. A year ago, he came up with another idea to engage with local children in a positive way — and it has to do with bicycles.

Griffin acquires used bikes and donates them to kids.

Griffin with some of his "bike kids". Image via ABC/YouTube.

The idea came to him when he saw a kid riding a bike with no tire on one of the wheels, says Griffin in an interview with WHNT 19 News. Then he found out the child shared the broken bike with five other siblings.

So Griffin picked up some bikes from a thrift store and restored them for the kid and his siblings.

They were really happy to have them, he says, and soon word began to spread. Other kids showed up to ask about acquiring a bike or getting their own repaired, and Griffin just couldn't say no.

But he added a catch.

In exchange for the bicycle, Griffin has the kids he donates them to sign a "contract."


Image via WHNT 19 News.

The contract asks that each kid respects their parents, finishes their homework, tries to get good grades, and maintains their bicycle. The attention and motivation seem to be working, too.

"When I went to go talk to a school at an awards ceremony, turns out one of my bike kids got the most improved behavior," Griffin shared with WHNT 19 News.

Oh yeah, and that thank you from NASA's Cmdr. Kelly? It was particularly special because of another role Griffin wears:

He's also a NASA physicist.

That's right — this guy's day job has him doing stuff like helping build a new facility for the International Space Station.

Kelly explained on "Good Morning, America" why Griffin is a hero, both in his community and at NASA:

"A lot of people look up to astronauts because we fly in space, but we really, really rely on the people on the ground ... people like yourself that help us do our job up here and make our lives safer and easier,” Kelly said. “But what I really look up to are people that do things when they don't expect any recognition. And I think that's what you do by donating your time and by getting these bikes for [these kids], and getting them to be in a position someday where they can be successful adults."

Kelly also announced that 50 brand new bicycles would be donated for Griffin to give to more local kids.

For his part, Griffin hopes what he does will inspire people to come together, he says, "as part of the village helping kids find their direction."

Giving kids the stuff they want with the training they need is definitely an idea worth passing along.

This grandma heard kids would be going lunch-less. So she went to a pub and cooked up a storm.

True
Dignity Health old

Phyllis Shaughnessy was dismayed when she learned the local meal program for low-income students would be cut for the summer.

Shaughnessy is a retired postmaster and a part-time substitute teacher in Copalis Beach, Washington. From her experience working with children, she would know that there are 15,000 kids and teens living below the poverty line in Grays Harbor County, where her town is located.

During the school year, low-income students can get their lunches through free or discounted meal programs at school.

But this year, the North Beach School District was forced to cut summer meals when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a change to their grant requiring the meals be served in a single location — a nearly impossible task in a region with a spread out rural population.

Realizing that local low-income families couldn't afford to fill this gap, Shaughnessy decided to fill the gap herself.

Shaughnessy acquired a caterer's license and began bringing lunches to kids who were affected by the summer lunch program cut. She called the program "Green Lantern Lunches" after Green Lantern Pub in Copalis Beach, whose owners offered the pub's kitchen to prepare meals.

The pub does other cool stuff too, like host Harley-Davidson weekends:

Maybe they could deliver lunches? Green Lantern Pub/Facebook, used with permission.

Every morning, Shaughnessy and a handful of volunteers delivered lunches to more than 200 low-income children. 90 of those lunches were delivered by Shaughnessy herself.

Parents told reporters for USA Today how much their children enjoy seeing Shaughnessy each morning. The kids have come to anticipate the sight of her navy blue car with the custom-made "Green Lantern Lunches" signs on its doors.

All GIFS via USA Today/YouTube.

In USA Today's video, Shaughnessy says she doesn't just do it to give the children food, she does it for the human connection it brings, for "love and hope".

"They need to know that somebody cares," she says.

As of August, Shaughnessy and other volunteers reported delivering 6,851 meals. A recent feature on the show "The Real" put an updated estimate at 10,000 meals. That's amazing.

The program is now looking to purchase school supplies and provide the kids with meals on weekends and holidays.

They have set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to keep their awesome program going.

I'm from Seattle and my mom and I have taken trips to Copalis Beach since I was a little kid. I remember driving past Green Lantern Tavern with its vibrant green walls and trim (and finally going in for a drink after I'd turned 21). This area gave me a lot of happy memories, and I wish its residents all the best.

Cheers to Phyllis Shaughnessy and her team, for all the happy memories you're giving to your community's kids.

You can check out this video for more on Green Lantern Lunches:

Trending Stories