A Small Group

May this inspire and comfort you.

"On a quiet street in rural Grenada, 74-year-old Julie noticed things people struggled to talk about. A teenager reusing napkins as tissues. A single mom scrubbing crayon marks off thrift-store jeans. A homeless man eyeing the dumpster behind the pharmacy.

One icy morning, Julie dug out her late father’s old toolbox, a dented red cabinet filled with nails, sandpaper, and a note “Use this to help folks.” She polished it, painted flowers on the sides, and nailed it to her fence with a sign “TAKE WHAT YOU NEED. LEAVE WHAT YOU CAN.” Inside, she placed toilet paper, a hairbrush, and a handwritten list “New? Try the pink soap. Shyness is normal. You belong here.”

The cabinet stayed full. Julie worried she’d misjudged. Then, one dusk, she spotted a girl in a frayed coat slipping out a toothbrush. Days later, a man left a pack of razors and a note “For the next guy. You’ve got this.”

The cabinet became a quiet revolution. A college student took a granola bar during finals, left a stress ball. Someone donated her wedding veil “For someone happier.”

Then came the heatwave. Julie, battling asthma, collapsed restocking soap. At the hospital, doctors warned “Rest, or your lungs will quit.”

The next morning, the cabinet had a new lock and a crowd. The nurse created a “sick day” drawer with throat lozenges. A carpenter built a rainproof awning. When Julie returned, she found a letter tucked inside “You taught us small things matter. Now rest. We’ve got the big stuff.”

Today, 37 cabinets bloom across the county, each unique, a purple one in a city, a tree-trunk box in Oregon. Julie’s original holds a new note, scribbled “This isn’t about stuff. It’s about saying, ‘I see you.’”

A trucker recently took a travel mug. Months later, a postcard arrived, a photo of the mug in Alaska, beside a sticky note “Still warm. Passing it on.”

Julie smiles. “The world’s heavy,” she says. “But kindness fits in small spaces. You just gotta crack the door.”
Let this story reach more hearts....
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By SYJ

A final reminder, we are hosting our ASG Intensive with Peter Block this Saturday, June 28. We have room for more.

We are hosting in a new location, the Cincinnati Public Radio building on Dana Avenue near I-71.

For more information and to register, go here:

A Small Group Learning Intensive with Peter Block - June 28 Join us at the A Small Group Intensive with Peter Block to explore the social architecture of creating community, connection, and change.

Your choices matter. ❤️

Discover a great book at the bookstore? Receive a recommendation from a bookseller?

Buy the book there. Keep your bookstore there.