- 1 week ago
This week, Lucie Fink challenges herself to five days of giving and volunteering, attempting to touch, help and thank as many people (and animals) as she possibly can. From a soup kitchen to an animal shelter to a third grade classroom, she gives back and spreads the happiness in various ways. Join her exciting and love-filled journey, and let us know how you give back and volunteer in your local communities! Happy Holidays!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this is 5 Days of Giving.
00:06Happy holidays, happy new year, happy, happy, happy.
00:09This past year has brought me so much joy.
00:12I have an entire YouTube family now.
00:15I now have over 40,000 friends on Instagram.
00:18So much love and light has been brought into my life and so now it's time for me to give
00:22back and to share that love with those around me.
00:25This week I'm challenging myself to give in a different way each day and I'm hoping that
00:29it inspires you to do the same.
00:31Today was a rainy Monday and I woke up at 6am to go to St. John's Bread and Life, an
00:35organization
00:36in New York that serves thousands of meals to hungry New Yorkers each and every day.
00:41This place is absolutely incredible.
00:44A team of about 30 people, a lot of them very young, handle everything from legal counseling
00:49to housing assistance, medical care, nutrition assistance and so much more.
00:54I worked in their soup kitchen washing dishes and also serving meals to their clients.
00:58The kitchen is the heart and soul of this place.
01:01To me, in my personal opinion, without the kitchen, like, this place wouldn't rock.
01:05The atmosphere, honestly, is just awesome.
01:07Then I checked out the digital food choice pantry where people can order groceries entirely
01:11for free on site and then pick up their groceries after they're done eating in the soup kitchen.
01:16Everyone I met, from the clients to the people who worked there, was so welcoming, so kind
01:21to one another.
01:22It really felt like family in there and it gave me a moment to just reflect on how many
01:27people there are out there who are just in need of a community and a place to go where
01:31they can spend time with other people and get a warm meal.
01:34This organization is always looking for new volunteers and monetary donations, so please
01:39check out the link in the YouTube description box for more info.
01:42What a way to start the week.
01:45I have a lot of plans this week for 5 Days of Giving, and most of them involve helping
01:50humans, but today I wanted to help out a different species.
01:54I spent the day at Animal Haven, a non-profit organization that helps find homes for abandoned
01:59dogs and cats in the Tri-State area.
02:02Hello!
02:03Hi!
02:04You brought paper towels!
02:06I cleaned a lot of puppy cages and took care of their adorable, seven-week-old puppy litter.
02:13I heard you're seven weeks.
02:17Cleaned up a lot of poop.
02:19I followed them around, constantly replenishing their wee-wee pads.
02:22You guys are peeing way too fast for me.
02:25We all have to empty our bladders occasionally.
02:28I also did a ton of cat socializing, which is really important in order to get the cats
02:33to be suitable for adoption.
02:34I know there's a lot of chatter these days about boycotting pet stores that source their
02:38animals from puppy mills.
02:40Hashtag, adopt, don't shop.
02:42And what I found to be the most amazing thing about Animal Haven is that once they take an
02:46animal in, they will never euthanize it.
02:48If they don't find a home, they're here with us for as long as it takes.
02:52So we've had dogs here, it is an average three weeks, we've had dogs here as long as a year
02:56and a half, and some cats have been here over two years.
03:00What I did today is definitely considered giving, but I'd say that I got just as much as
03:04much, if not more, in return in the form of puppy love.
03:10It's mid-week and I'm feeling extremely energetic.
03:13Playing with puppies yesterday had me feeling like a kid again.
03:16So today I decided I want to go hang out with some kids.
03:19I went to the Academy of the City, a phenomenal charter school in Queens, and I visited a third
03:24grade classroom.
03:25We work hard to provide a very, like, hands-on, experiential curriculum for the kids so that
03:31it's not just learning out of what they're reading, but they're actually learning by doing
03:35and creating and being a part of the world around them.
03:38I went into her classroom and talked all about my role as a video producer at Refinery29,
03:43and I focused on one episode in specific, and this is five days of no sugar.
03:48I explained how I go about planning for the episode, all of the research that goes into
03:53it.
03:53I was careful to tell them that even though it seems boring, research is key.
03:58Think about it.
03:59If you are going to a YouTube channel because you really want to learn about what it would
04:03be like to not have any sugar for a week, one of the big things you probably want to
04:07learn about is the backstory of sugar.
04:10What are the different types of sugar?
04:12What does sugar actually do to our bodies?
04:14And then we handed out a worksheet, and I let them come up with their own five-day challenges
04:18and had them plan it out on the sheet just the way I do.
04:22I had students who were planning to give up video games for five days, students who wanted
04:25to eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise more.
04:28The students wrote me thank you cards that I'm sitting here almost crying over.
04:33Thank you for coming, Lucy.
04:35Look, they even put a pizza on it.
04:38I love them.
04:43I want to make sure this week that I'm giving to a wide variety of people, people of all ages,
04:49both young and old.
04:50Visiting Neighbors is an organization that gives senior citizens a few hours of company each
04:55week.
04:55Many of these people live on their own, or they don't have any family, or really they
05:00just want someone to talk to and spend some time with.
05:02I met up with Chloe, a Visiting Neighbors volunteer, and we went to one of the senior homes that
05:07she visits frequently, the home of Yvonne Sherwell.
05:11I think I'm older than God at this point, and I've had so many different careers that I'm
05:16writing a memoir, as of course you know, Chloe, and it gets longer and longer.
05:23You're writing a memoir.
05:24Yes, it's longer than the Holy Bible at this point.
05:27Yvonne has had such a rich and colorful life filled with theater and art and Spanish dancing.
05:33But she's three times a widow, and she lives alone in New York City now with some worsening
05:38health problems.
05:39I feel like this is a very special thing for me to come do during this week because I actually
05:45don't have any grandparents.
05:46Yeah.
05:47I'm, you, you'll be my grandma.
05:52She was loving the camera, she was loving having young people in her apartment, she told
05:57us her entire life story, and then she shared photographs of herself when she was our age,
06:02and we even shared with her some digital media tips and showed her Snapchat and YouTube.
06:07Can I call you back in about a half hour?
06:10That's you on Snapchat.
06:11Okay, can I call you back, okay.
06:13I could just see in her eyes how much it meant to her to have a room full of young
06:17people.
06:18It just added so much life and laughter and such a burst of happiness to her day, if only
06:23for a few hours.
06:24I think there's a lot of value to connecting with someone from a different generation.
06:28The whole thing was very touching, very moving, and I really hope to go back to Yvonne's apartment
06:33sometime soon.
06:37Happy Friday!
06:38This week has been filled with so much emotion and such positive energy all around.
06:43I've been giving to a lot of different communities, but so far everyone I've given to this week
06:47and everyone I've touched in some way has been a stranger.
06:50Today, I wanted to bring it all home and give back to my own parents.
06:53When you think about giving a gift to your parents, you might first start thinking of
06:56some material items, but I wanted to give them something that goes beyond the tangible,
07:01something that has a lot of meaning attached to it.
07:03I took all of our old childhood videotapes and I had them digitized and put on DVD so
07:09that I could give my parents the gift of everlasting memories.
07:13Let's go surprise my parents!
07:15I surprised my parents at my childhood home.
07:18Surprise!
07:19What are you doing here?
07:20Surprise!
07:21Surprise!
07:22And showed them the new DVD case.
07:25I love this!
07:27I love it!
07:28I love it!
07:28I love it!
07:28Let's watch them!
07:29And then we spent the rest of our Friday afternoon watching old home videos together.
07:33Get!
07:34Oh!
07:39There have been endless studies done about the psychology behind gift giving and generosity.
07:44A good person is usually a happy person.
07:47What are your favorite ways of volunteering and giving in your local communities?
07:51Comment below letting me know.
07:52And as always, let me know what you want to see me try next time on Try Living with Lucy.
08:04Please let Thanks!
08:05This is my favorite favorite dream!
08:05No!
08:05Unbelievable