By Larrell L. Wilkinson | Wilkinson Wellness Lab

This year, my birthday falls on the same day that my kids go back to school. So, like many parents, I am washing clothes, packing backpacks, tucking in my kids early tonight…earlier than they have gone to bed this summer, setting alarm clocks…oh, and folding those fresh clean clothes. Yeah, you know, organizing for the back to school chaos! The Wilkinson family is working to get back into the flow of how life will be for the next nine (9) months, all three kids in school. We are folding their clothes, I am folding my clothes, the kids are working off some of their nervous energy and Man, I have a lot of clothes to fold. Stop. Why do I have so many clothes to fold? It’s summer, I work from home many days. No, seriously, why do I have so many clothes that I am folding for myself and not my kids’ clothes.

As I am folding these clothes, a thought comes to mind, “I bet you could give away forty-five (45) items to the men’s shelter.” What? First, I don’t have that many items to give away. And second, what? But then I thought about it again. Maybe I do, maybe I should. The voice: “What about your T-shirt collection?” Yep, the fabled man’s t-shirt collection where each shirt can bring back so many memories. “What about socks…the socks you haven’t worn, the new warm socks still in the package after two years?” There is more. Not only is the voice speaking to me, but earlier today my eldest daughter had the idea to fill up her old school backpack (because she has a new one for the new school year) with food and drive to downtown Birmingham to give the backpack to a person experiencing food and/or housing insecurity. I also happen to be in the middle of the clothes month of the popular book “7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess” by Jen Hatmaker. So, maybe, this idea is kind of implanted in my mind, right?

Well, I am going to be obedient.  I am going to aim for 45 items to give away and take them to the Jimmie Hale Mission in Birmingham, AL.  I have donated collared shirts, polo style shirts, dress shoes, pants, coats, etc. there before and many of the guys I interacted with were really cool.  To learn more about The Jimmie Hale Mission, please visit them on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/thejimmiehalemission/.  If you feel up to giving, I encourage you to donate your gently used items to a shelter or other entities that can help others in the community.  Of course, these organizations will accept a financial contribution as well.  So, here’s my birthday wish…for each of us to spend a little time helping another person or group of persons in our own way…however compelled.  Let us know how it goes in the comments section or hit us up on Facebook: @wilkinsonwellnesslab.