Have you ever helped someone deal with a situation, and at the end, you discovered it helped you too? It happens frequently to Kayle Legacy when she volunteers for the Lakeland (Florida) Detox.
“Volunteering at Detox is a good restart for me,” says Kayle, a wife, and mother of two daughters. Kayle has been a volunteer since the first Detox in 2014.
“I love helping someone else relieve stress in life and watch them come out of it,” she says. “It gives me hope.”
At the first Detox, Kayle helped facilitate the “My Girlfriend’s Kitchen” session where she showed participants how to make frozen slow cooker meals to save time cooking. At her second Detox event, she led a session on how to save money using technology, demonstrating how couponing and smartphones can work together to ease the pain at the checkout.
Detox activities enhance Kayle’s life, too. Through this outreach, she discovered how journaling deepens the spiritual life. ”Journaling is a way for God to work from within my life,” she says, adding she’s also learned to meditate on Bible verses, helping her to restructure her day using what she’s learned through scriptural meditation.
In addition to serving at these two events, Kayle is the chair for the Girls Night Out/After 5 group. She is involved in Stonecroft Lakeland, a group of leaders representing various Stonecroft activities in the area. Kayle also participated in two Detox follow-up community group Bible Studies that helped her grow in her faith, she says.
Kayle finds the beauty of community through Detox events and follow-up groups. “They are a way for me to connect with people and develop close friendships,” she says. “I’m a stay-at-home mom, so I need that connection with other women. It’s a way to de-stress, and I get to help myself and others.”
Robyne Baker
Writor/Editor and Grant Research
Detox