Feeling like a superhero! Paxton Phelps has come a long way since his diagnosis over a year ago. Good Deeds Girls Night Out was happy to help make life a little easier during his treatment.
The first thing you need to know is that for the Good Deed Girls Night Out crew, a good deed is just that. A good deed. It’s not an act based on any qualifying criteria. It’s not an act that requires the recipient to report back or be accountable to the person that performed the good deed. It’s simply an act that comes from the heart. A purely selfless act intended to bring happiness to someone else. Speaking of intent, the second thing you need to know is that Sherry Gentry-Gasper, a mother of three who works full-time outside the home, never intended to be the “leader” of a small group of women that meets as often as ten times a year to not only enjoy dinner and drinks, but to also reach out and help other women. It just sort of happened that way. “I had a group of friends, and we liked to go have dinner and drinks without our husbands and kids; it was really about venting and having a group of women that could identify with each other,” says Gentry-Gasper. Yet a conversation Gentry-Gasper had with a local mom right around the time of one of the planned nights out got her thinking. “A mom approached me, asking for help with her family’s Christmas. She knew I volunteered, and thought that I might know of someone or a group who could help with some little things,” says Gentry-Gasper. An Idea Born Her immediate reaction was to take this opportunity to the girls night out group. “The mom was very specific about what she needed, and it wasn’t that much, so I thought ‘hey, why don’t we all chip in and get her what she needs?’” she remembers. Which is exactly what the women ended up doing, chalking it up to a good deed. But the ease in which Gentry-Gasper and her friends were able make that decision and fly into action to help another person kept resonating with her, and got her thinking about an even bigger opportunity. Gentry-Gasper felt fortunate that she was able to leave the house for a few hours once a month to enjoy the camaraderie of girlfriends. She felt fortunate that she was able to spend a few dollars on a nice meal. She also realized that although the women going to the girls nights out were there to enjoy the bonding time with other women, she also had a ready-made audience of women who liked to give back. So why not make giving a part of the experience? midtownmag.com | 93