Elizabeth danced at a local care home today for part of a school assignment which required her to do some good things in the community. She chose the tasks and for one of them she wanted to dance at the local care home. It was a really lovely experience and although I was just an observer it still gave me good vibes watching someone else to do something good. She enjoyed it very much and I think the residents liked it too. She danced five dances: Highland Fling, Sword Dance, Seann Truibhas, Flora, and Lilt.
For the other two tasks she picked up litter in the local area and distributed leaflets on how to help hedgehogs.
It’s giving Tuesday on the 29th November and every year my employer encourages us all to give something back to our communities. We are given a budget of AU$300 and can do whatever we like. Usually I plant trees which is what I did again this year. I planted four native trees: crab apple, elder, hazel, and blackthorn.
The Woodland trust sells tree packs very cheaply and this one only cost £16.95 so the rest of my budget I donated to The New Arc wildlife and animal rescue centre which is just north of Aberdeen and works tirelessly to support local wildlife. Recently they took in a baby otter which you can see a video of at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/thenewarc.org/videos/938798980430542/
On Friday night all four of us took part in Aberdeen’s fourth critical mass ride. Silly me forgot to take photos as I was too busy handing out postcards and then when we were riding I was concentrating on making sure the kids were safe. This is quite a lovely photo of Aberdeen shared by the official Critical Mass Aberdeen Twitter account.
Both kids enjoyed the ride especially Daniel who described it as really fun cycling with lots of other people. It does feel like you’re a part of something special and it is. It’s also much safer cycling as part of a big group.
At the start of the ride we passed a women’s march which consisted of hundreds of women out in force demanding the right to walk home at night safely after the murder of an Aberdeen woman who was walking home after a night out. We all rang our bells in solidarity with the cause. If I hadn’t been in the critical mass I’d have joined the march.
rachel.blog 
I hadn’t heard of giving Tuesday before. What a good idea to have it so close to Black Friday. $300 is a good amount too – there are so many small charities who would find that beneficial.