In Kansas and across our nation, people fight daily battles to care for themselves and others

Many Kansas work as caregivers for their family members. Others devote their professional lives to doing good for those in need. (Photo by Lucas Ninno/Getty Images)

I recently was listening to that song from the past where the singer proclaims: “Love is a battlefield.”

The song got me thinking about how we fight our own personal battles and then there are much larger battles — in our cities, in our state and in our nation. Then there are battles in our world. It’s just gotten to be too much, hasn’t it? We are fighting, we are drinking our coffee, then we fight some more. We are tired and we feel like giving up.

I think of my friend Haley Kottler of the Kansas Appleseed. I have had the opportunity to get to know Haley over the last several years and her dedication to fighting food insecurity, especially for Kansas children, is commendable. Haley fights a battle every day to help people understand how important it is to keep children fed and cared for.

Sometimes I imagine she feels like she is all alone, praying and hoping that people will show compassion in the face of mounting hunger in our nation. The hunger epidemic is a crisis, and Haley and her team truly care.

I fight my own battle — a battle with mental illness that I have fought every day since I was 18 years old. There were times when I wanted to give up. Then I started a recovery journey where I have given back.

Recently, my younger sister surprised me with the idea of starting a nonprofit organization to help other nonnrofits financially that help people with mental illness. My family is not alone in our battles we face with mental illness, and Laura saw that. She wanted to reach out to help other organizations care for those in need.

One battle I have never really had to face is poverty. However, many Breakthrough House clients and Astra clients in Topeka really experience that battle every day. I see some of them fighting for their life walking downtown, looking tired and hopeless. They are hungry, they are homeless. People like Barry Feaker of Compassion Strategies truly care about the plight of the homeless, and many who experience homelessness also experience a serious mental illness or drug addiction.

Nick Casarona of Mirror Inc. is a fighter for those trying to get their lives back after struggles. I have gotten to know Nick a bit over the past several years, and he is a true champion of helping people in need.

We live in a time when punishment and stigma and hate are rampant. People feel tired and battle weary. Even people like Sondra Knox at Astra — people who are paid to help people in poverty or who experience homelessness or other issues like mental illness and addiction — get tired. They give and give and it seems like no one sees their efforts. Sondra and Kristy Hobbs work to help people find stable housing, and they put in long and draining days.

Caregivers fight a battle every day too, caring for their loved ones with disabilities and perhaps a senior. Caregivers often have no time to care for themselves, and they feel burned out and overwhelmed. To give of oneself every day is a challenge, and women often carry this load. Many mothers are caring for their children and an older parent. The need is great to reach out and offer support to these women.

They navigate systems that have grown more complicated — applying and keeping up with documentation for Medicaid, food assistance, housing and so much more. It seems programs designed to help people have become increasingly more difficult and almost next to impossible. We need to dare to care.

We can help each other with our battles, and we can offer support and hope. Maybe we could purchase a gift card for someone, add an encouraging note, and stick it in them mail. Maybe we could take a hot, home-cooked meal to someone who is just out of the hospital. Maybe we could offer to care for someone’s children so the parents can have a date night. We can come up with all kinds of helpful and creative ideas.

Let’s not give up. Know that the battle won’t last forever. We can find peace in the storm together.