Kindness through the virus
Local residents going one step further to bless others
Angie Bryant’s son participates in a chalk exercise for her workout video. Bryant sets up a routine and tries to have at least two days a week scheduled for physical activity. Bryant’s videos are just one example of how local community members are helping others during the coronavirus pandemic.
As the quarantine leaves families cooped up together for most, if not all, of the days in a week, people are getting creative in how they can interact with and be a blessing to other families. Despite social distancing and isolation, there are still numerous acts of kindness being demonstrated throughout our local community.
The Hulse family has gone the extra step in offering their RV and pool house to anyone who may need it for the quarantine. Simply because they believe it is the right thing to do in a time like this, their act of kindness has already been taken up and they continue to remain open to any who needs a place for their well-being.
In an effort to make things more interesting for little kids out on a walk with their families, some neighborhoods have placed teddy bears up in their windows for the children to count along the way. In an another effort to still interact with kids in some way, certified level one crossfit coach Angie Bryant has gotten a little crafty with her workout regime.
“I’ve been doing some workouts with our kids in the neighborhood that don’t have parents that can help do P.E.,” Bryant said. “I just kind of had the idea that I would offer little P.E. workout times for kids to get out and exercise.”
Bryant will sometimes post a video onto Facebook so that way kids can still workout from home, and she makes sure to include some of their usual exercises, just using different equipment. Chairs may be used for dips, curbs used as steps, or the painted line on a street as a reference point when doing jumps.
Her exercises focus mainly on bodyweight, balance and agility–sometimes even using agility ladders–but she also makes sure she shows kids how to run properly and squat the correct way to not hurt their knees. In one of her more recent workout ideas, she has taken up sidewalk chalk.
In one act of kindness, crossfit coach Angie Bryant has taken the time to draw out workouts in sidewalk chalk. Her son is pictured doing just a couple of the exercises and will sometimes participate in his mom’s workout videos as well.
“It’s kind of like an obstacle course path, some people call it a sensory path,” Bryant said. “A lot of those ideas I got off of Pinterest. I take some of the movements that we’ve been doing and I draw it out on the ground, like bear crawls and balance features to help them with balance. I’ll take chalk and fill up a whole sidewalk by the pool house with all of that.”
Bryant has always been a teacher at heart, and in some way, shape, or form, she has also been a coach. Bryant, a former high school teacher, enjoys being with children, and these workouts allow her to still connect with them.
“I’m a people person, so I like being with people and with kids, and I’ve been in children’s ministry. I feel like that’s doing two of the things that I’m gifted at,” Bryant said. “God’s given me this gift to teach and to love kids, to know where they are, and what they’re doing. It’s kind of putting two passions into one thing.”
Bryant isn’t the only one though who is trying to take things that one step further in making things easier for others. In a different act of kindness, the Hulse family has been thinking of those who may want a separate place to quarantine, since they may work in the healthcare field, or may want a way to keep their families safer.
Sean Hulse, who manages property in Peachtree City, and his wife realized that there was some good that they could do for others within the safety of their home by lending out their pool house and RV to those who may need it.
This post from the mother of the daughter that stayed at the Hulse’s shows just how significant one act of kindness can go. Her daughter was seeking a safe place to quarantine after coming home from New York, the epicenter of coronavirus in the U.S.
“I wanted to offer it to the people on the front lines that were doing the dirty work over at the hospitals,” Hulse said.
To his surprise though, he received a call from a mother reaching out for the sake of her daughter coming home from school in New York. Her daughter needed a safe place to quarantine for a few weeks to make sure she was corona-free.
The Hulse’s of course were more than happy to lend it out, knowing that she would be comfortable as their pool house is furnished with a full kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. The young lady finished her isolated quarantine and left on April 10, so now the pool house is open yet again, though currently someone from California may be about to claim it as they are coming to work with a special needs child.
“My wife and I were the ones that were kind of doing this, and we definitely thought it was the right thing to do, to offer,” Hulse said. “It just kind of felt like the right thing to do… I think that if you have that ability, you should just kind of do that when you can.”
The Hulse’s RV still remains available though for anyone who may need it, and can be lived in for weeks at a time. If anyone is in need of a place to stay for the sake of their family’s well being or their own–especially including healthcare workers–contact Sean Hulse at [email protected].
This is just the kind of positivity and heartwarming humanity that people need most in a time like this. Through acts like these, by using what’s available to them and what they’re good at, Hulse and Bryant have demonstrated a few examples of kindness through the virus.
Karen Russell • Apr 21, 2020 at 11:30 am
What a wonderful story Emily! Thanks for highlighting and sharing the many ways people are blessing others during this time.