Wow, guys, the four of you (from the over 200 who've looked since I posted the volunteering challenge... *ahem*) have shared some wonderful ideas!
Beth's church is putting its collection plate where the need is (go guys!), and she is working on the Pay it Forward Principle~ "Although I love to sell on eBay, lately I've been giving away a lot of the things I'd normally sell. The beautiful wooden puzzles went to the boys across the street, boxes of books went to our local library, bags of clothing went to a neighbor, and some homeschool items went to a friend in need."
Amy mentioned the ever-needed and often overlooked need for companionship and caring presence in nursing homes, suggested taking a single mom under your wing, and added, "Get to know the people around you. You will never know the many places you can help that are sitting right under your nose if you don't walk out the front door and sit down with your neighbors once in a while." *She also blogged a wonderful entry with more thoughts on it! Go read- I'll wait.*
Cheryl mentioned that guilt, er, inertia is a motivating factor. She passed along the link for Warm Hearts, Warm Babies.
Sarah (I'm guessing this was you! Is this you?) mentioned grabbing your copy of Phonics Pathways (or whichever program you've got lying around! *grin*) and taking it to the local soup kitchen.
I didn't think this would be a difficult one, really. Come on, guys- have we truly become that dependent on the government to be the almighty "Righter of Wrongs" that nobody can think of ways to improve the human condition? I'm not asking anyone to travel to another continent and purify water supplies for entire villages (although that would be pretty cool, really.)
How about some of these...
* rather than "adopting a highway", and having to carry all the regulatory burden that accompanies that, grab a bag, stick a nail on the end of a stick, and go pick up trash! I guarantee you'll find plenty.
* teach a child a skill- woodworking, bookbinding, sewing, cooking. Trust me, there are plenty of children who don't have mentors to show them these things. Who knows, perhaps the child you help may turn a corner and end up being the next Emeril or Christopher Lowell?
* offer to paint fences in run-down communities, or plant shrubs, or... take the stick and pick up trash.
* Big Brothers, Big Sisters, anyone?
I can think of many, many things that would be simply wonderful for communities, but unfortunately they are not feasible with the government regulation that's in place right now. Hmmm... what about doing something to ease that?
Think about it this way. If you have $1000 to put toward helping those who need it, would you rather be in charge of how that thousand is spent, or would you rather pay someone to hire a committee which will hire a lawyer, who will in turn hire research assistants, who will report back to the committee, which will then form a steering committee to report on who should be hired to oversee the hiring of the staff that will eventually.... oh, you know what, we ran out of money...
Have a wonderful Labor Day!
~Dy
4 comments:
Some of the things we've done when financially able:
- Given some of our groceries to the homeless man begging at the side of the supermarket.
- Keeping a shoebox with sanitary needs and some wants (like gum, mints, water) so that the next time we see someone in need, we can provide.
- Paying the fast food tab of the person behind us just because we can, and imagining their confusion then joy when the cashier tells them about it. (once I told the cashier to tell them to do the same one day - same pay-it-forward principle)
- Leave quarters in the payphone slots and also put some in the video games so the next person gets a freebie.
Some things we've done when we didn't have the finances (more often than not lately lol):
- Smile at every stranger and look them in the eye
- Call everyone (from the cashier to the homeless man on the street) "sir" and "Mam".
- Compliment people on something, you could make their day.
- Compliment someones *children* (if they deserve it lol). I know from experience even the smallest compliment can make me have a whole new perspective and appreciation for my kids.
- Round up your clutter and donate what you can! (pregnancy crisis centers can always use your old baby things!)
We are going to meet some new HSers on Friday and they are baking cookies and then delivering them to local Firemen. They also visit the nursing home once a week. They are planning on doing some great things in the community, I'm excited because my kids are way too young for me to coordinate all this stuff.
I am planning on having the kids draw some pictures for our neighbor and delivering it this week. :-) It's such a simple thing but it's so easy to procrastinate.
ANyway, I'm not perfect, these are things I've done once in a great while in the past 10 years...lol People from our church mow our lawn for us every week and that is just awesome! I need to start giving back again...
Jess
You know, its interesting because I didn't comment on your earlier post because I wasn't doing anything with an "organization" so I didn't count it as volunteering. However I think its a part of how you choose to live your daily life also and Iiked what some of these commenters have mentioned, which are also things I do ... always carry granola bars and bottles of water to give to beggars (lets call it what it is), buy a few extra groceries every time to drop in the St. Vincent de Paul box, cook food for our church's Supper Club to take to a local AIDs hospice to provide dinner once a month, etc. It can go right down to letting that harrassed looking person go in line in front of you and entertaining a child so their mother can write a check. Also I think if you are open to the call of your interests in the community you will find yourself pulled into something without realizing it, as I have been into helping with Christ Renews His Parish retreats. Its amazing how much fits right into your routine like that.
About organized volunteering, another great place to find opportunities is through your local Catholic or Christian schools. Almost all of them have mandatory volunteer hours for students once they reach a certain age. This allows kids to find the thing they are most comfortable with, which is an important part of continuation in volunteering. For instance, Rose goes monthly to a Pet Therapy session at a local nursing home, where people take their dogs and cats for the occupants to pet. It is a good way to lead into conversation also. Hannah goes with the Supper Club volunteers to serve the meal. They have done all sorts of things though, including help run a local Special Olympics through school provided opportunities.
My kids and I have taken part in a cookie bake through an organization in our church that delivers goodies to female inmates at a local correctional facility; they do this twice yearly. I'm also hoping to join with another organization (also tied to my church) that tutors at-risk inner city elementary students, doing simple things, reading to them, etc. It amazed me when a lady who spoke this past Sunday commented that the projected need for prison space is partially determined by *fourth grade reading levels*...isn't that scary? And our community's forecast isn't good. :o(
Jill in OK
So tired. No sleep. But I wanted to mention the small things we do right now: I've trained the kids to always pick up the trash in our path. And although we don't give money to all the panhandlers, there are a few to whom we give every time we see them. When we're in Texas we donate or freecycle a great many things: clothes, books, household items.
None of these things takes effort. It's the least, literally, we can do along the way.
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