We’re taking a short break for the holidays, but we’ll be back on January 3, 2011! For now, it’s time for a long winter’s nap. Why not check out some of our most popular posts in the mean time?
We’ll see you in the new year!
Today’s post comes from Maria Rainier, a freelance writer and blogger.
If you’re anything like me and the rest of the world’s population, you’ve gone through some difficult times in your life. But if you think you’re the only person who’s been affected by adversity, you could be wrong – there are people all around you who have had the same experiences.
There are even people who are struggling through the same territory you’ve already covered, and they could benefit immensely from your knowledge and experience. It’s not easy to start a new volunteering organization, but I’ve been part of the process and I can tell you that the rewards far outweigh any difficulties you might have.
Starting a College Organization for Grieving Students
While I was earning my BA in English halfway across the country, my father found out that he had stage four lung cancer that had already spread to his bones. My father had never smoked in his life. He struggled with the disease for two years as it traveled up his spine to his brain, finally passing away during the summer of my junior year. I felt that I was alone in my grief and that returning to classes would be like trying to live on a foreign planet, but thanks to another girl in a similar situation, I was able to help start a grief share and service group for the students at our university. While searching for an apartment on a local ad page, I read her post about starting a group and immediately contacted her, grateful for someone who could understand my situation. We met with a few other respondents and brainstormed about what the group’s purpose would be, who could join, how administration would work, and how to become an official university organization.
Overcoming Challenges
Our plan was to start a chapter of AMF (Ailing Mothers and Fathers) at our institution, but due to administrators’ concerns about the nature of our group and the risks involved, we were denied this opportunity. We were considered a “dangerous” group of students at risk for getting involved in deviant behavior, so we weren’t allowed to affiliate ourselves with an established organization. This was hurtful and potentially destructive, but we were able to re-commit ourselves to accomplishing our goal. We drafted our own by-laws, set up our own system of administration, developed publicity campaigns, and were eventually given the privilege of calling ourselves an official organization.
Finding Ways to Serve
After the long fight to become an organization, we were faced with other challenges–finding ways to volunteer that were relevant to our group and would attract students to participate in our projects. A key facet of our purpose was to channel our grief into accomplishing something positive for others, and we were prepared to work hard to make that happen. We brainstormed at several meetings and consulted friends who were members of other service organizations to come up with viable ideas. Some of the ideas that came to life were visiting nursing homes, introducing crafts and dance to hospital children’s wards, and participating in various walks to cure diseases that affected our members and their families. I know that I did myself a great service by being a part of this group, and I like to think that others benefited from the experience as well. So if you’re going through a difficult time in your life, reach out to find others who know your situation well, then work together to make a positive impact on the source of your pain.
Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education, where recently she’s been researching different social work degrees and blogging about student life. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
Today’s guest post comes from Zachary Hecht.
My entire life, I’ve walked straight past them. If they dared to approach me, I would turn my head the other way. If they attempted to speak to me, I would pretend like I didn’t hear them. However, over the summer — this all changed. On a PANIM-BBYO program, IMPACT: DC, I finally stopped and spoke to a homeless person.
I have always held certain beliefs about homeless people, but these misconceptions were all shattered on one sunny day in a park in Washington D.C. For about half an hour I spoke with a man who was homeless. This man transcended every homeless stereotype. He was college educated, well read, and completely lucid. I soon realized that you do not need to be mentally unstable, or unintelligent to be homeless, just unlucky. It could happen to anybody, even me. This wasn’t the first community service I had ever done, nor was it the last….but it certainly was the most meaningful.
Recently I sat through a presentation by the CEO of Youth Services America. The CEO stated that my generation of teens is doing more community service than any other generation and that he couldn’t be prouder. Upon hearing this I wasn’t surprised, but I was also a little skeptical. Today teens complete hours of community service for school and to pad their college resumes. So while there is an abundance of service taking place, it isn’t always thoughtful service. I like to say this type of community service is volunteering as a means to an end. And, while any community service is positive, this kind of service is the least meaningful. Most of the people that do this service do not put their heart into it and they rarely get anything out of their experiences.
It’s my feeling that community service needs to be completely revamped. There shouldn’t be requirements or standards. Teens should do community service because they want to. When teens do community service they need to be inspired.
This is no easy task…. While inspiring a teen doesn’t necessarily require a large amount of work, it requires getting the teen to take a leap of faith. Earlier when I mentioned my experience in the park, I failed to highlight what preceded it. I didn’t just arrive; for over a week I learned about what being homeless was. PANIM was able to captivate me through education. This is why I was willing to take a leap of faith and speak to a homeless person in a park. Community service should not be just a quick hour of volunteering with no introduction or closure. It needs to be an educational and worthwhile experience. It needs to be an experience that truly changes the way a teen think and feels.
If we are able to do this — community service will still be done, but not so a teen can graduate high school, or so they can get into college…. Community service will be done because teens will want to do it.
Zachary Hecht is a senior at Commack High School where he is a High Honor Role student and an IB Diploma candidate. Zach is on the regional board of BBYO’s Nassau-Suffolk Region. His interests include international relations and economics.
As the year comes to an end, a lot of folks are thinking about donating to their favorite causes. We appreciate everyone who reaches out to support a cause, whether it’s financially or through volunteering. For everything all of you do every day, we thank you.
To ensure that your gifts have the most impact on those you want to support, here are some tips for making the most of your holiday gifts:
Financial Giving
Volunteering
At HandsOn Network, we’re grateful to everyone who has volunteered and donated to a favorite charity and worked to improve their communities over the past year. Thank you for your time and your efforts. We’re looking forward to next year when, together, we can do even more to transform our communities. Happy Holidays from all of us!
There are a lot of resources available for all of your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day projects. Whether you’re volunteering on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with a local nonprofit, planning a volunteer project of your own, or aren’t quite sure what to do, we have something you can use to make serving on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a better experience for you and the organizations you’re serving with.
We even have ways to participate in events that highlight Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community, and that don’t have to take place on January 17, 2011 in case you can’t devote the day to service.
On Sunday, January 16, people will come together across the nation for a Sunday Supper. A meal hosted by someone who wants to bring together community members to talk about the problems facing their community and how to solve them. Sunday Suppers are being held at people’s homes and community gathering places. They’re meals prepared by the host, pot luck suppers, and dinners in restaurants. Overall, they’re an opportunity to come together to start making change in communities across the nation.
Sunday Suppers are also being held to bring people together to watch America’s Sunday Supper; a meal with service leaders from across the nation talking about how community service can help solve the problems facing our communities and nation. Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute, Dikembe Mutombo, Robert Egger, founder and President of DC Central Kitchen, and others will come together to talk about how community service can be the solution to our communities’ problems.
Community Cinema events are happening across the country, and you can . The films featured at the Community Cinemas highlight the impact of individuals on their communities. It’s a great place to start the conversation about how you can make a change in your community.
If you’re planning your own service project, we have step-by-step plans for creating and implementing your own service project and a toolbox full of planning aids.
You can even find tools and activities to help get families and youth involved in service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There are tips for bringing service-learning to the classroom, resources to help teach youth about giving and volunteerism, and fun activities to help youth learn about Dr. King and his work.
Tell us about your Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service projects in the comments, and let us know what resources you need.
Today’s blog post comes from Perry Teicher, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Kazakhstan from 2007-2009. This is the first of five posts about his Peace Corps service.
While volunteerism as we usually view it in the States is a relatively new concept in Kazakhstan, community support is is engrained in traditions from Soviet times and earlier eras. During the Soviet Union, the first Saturday of every month would involve community cleaning. Everyone would be required to work together: doctors, nurses, and patients would clean the hospital grounds; administrators, teachers, and students would rake leaves in the schoolyard. The Kazakhstani government continues to organize similar morning activities.
Kazakh tradition contains a concept called “asar”, the idea of supporting your immediate community, a concept vital for allowing nomadic culture to survive for generations. Under this paradigm, all members of the community took responsibility for each other. For example, if a neighbor’s yurt (a mobile residence) burned down, the neighbors would help rebuild; if a family was low on food, the village would provide support. These traditions are important considerations in developing sustainable and potentially more effective volunteerism programs, in Kazakhstan as well as in America.
I worked at the “Society for the Protection of Paralyzed Citizens of Aktobe”, a local NGO focused on creating an environment where people with disabilities could lead independent lives. To this end, the director, , wanted to create a “Volunteer Club”, where young people could work alongside disabled community members to establish friendships, bridge divides, and provide support for this vision.
already had an active volunteer contingent that consisted of generally older friends. We had the vision to expand this group of individuals engaging in one-time activities into a sustainable organization. This process involved a number of challenges:
1) Determining our target group We focused on university-age students and young professionals in order to work with those who could devote time and would be mature enough to work with people with whom they may be uncomfortable.
2) Overcoming the stigma of disability The word for a “person with a disability” in Russian is “invalid”. This word has relatively the same meaning in Russian as in English – worthless. Disabled individuals receive a pension and are expected to stay out of the public eye and be happy with their “free” money. Because the concept of disability rights is only just emerging, no infrastructure exists to help disabled individuals integrate into society. Some parents were very uncomfortable with the children working so closely with disabled youth.
3) Attracting volunteers Students in Kazakhstan are very busy, therefore we identified an easy source of volunteers – those students I already worked with at English Club. We focused on three main factors motivating volunteers: (1) English; (2) young American man; (3) helping the community. Number one and two served as a useful segway for the third. My Kazakhstani counterpart and I spoke at schools and students organizations to spread awareness and recruit volunteers. I took every opportunity to speak in front of group and in the media to talk about the volunteer club and provide contact information. We made it easy to find us.
4) Training volunteers Volunteer training included physical and psychological preparations, such as how to use a wheelchair and strategies to deal with miscommunication. My Kazakhstani colleagues all had a physical disability and thus had greater credibility as they could speak from personal experience.
5) Retaining volunteers We started the process by anticipating that volunteers would want to take direction of the program. We quickly found we could more effectively retain volunteers when initial program ideas were top-down. We organized specific events and paired volunteers with “buddies” (young adults and children with disabilities). This enabled the volunteers and disabled youth to become comfortable and to build friendships within the context of the new organization. We made it easy for volunteers to invite their friends to activities.
This foundation then allowed us to focus on integrating the club into the community.
Perry Teicher is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Kazakhstan, 2007-2009). He is Co-Founder and President of TheGivingApp, L3C, a company focused on creating mobile applications for non-profits.
Friends,
As many of you know, each year L’Oreal recognizes 10 extraordinary women change agents, a program that Points of Light Institute has helped support for more than five years.
Last week I had the privilege of attending the L’Oreal Women of Worth event in New York City, where the awards were presented by such celebrities as singer Tricia Yearwood and actress Kerry Washington.
The evening was hugely inspiring, and the stories of these amazing women were a great reminder of what we are all capable of accomplishing in the world. The honorees themselves were profoundly touched and transformed by their experiences, and several former winners returned to share how the recognition had helped them extend their work.
I presented the award to a young women, Simone Bernstein, who at the age of 12 began to create an organization and Website to connect young people to volunteer work with nonprofits. She has inspired 1,500 young people in St. Louis to being life-long journeys of service. Other honorees started medical clinics, a project to support military service widows, and efforts to help young women escape prostitution and sex trafficing. I encourage you all to access the Women of Worth Website to read their stories.
On another celebratory note, generationOn, our new youth-services division, exceeded its goal and in one week activated 117,104 service pledges from young people and, in turn, Hasbro donated 117,104 toys, worth $2.6 million, to the Toys for Tots Holiday Gift Campaign for needy children. Whole classes of schoolchildren pledged and joined generationOn, and in at least one case, a school of 1,500 students made service commitments. Entire fraternity chapters, Kids Care Clubs, families, and scout troops pledged.
This effort was a great example of mobilization and activation, whose legacy will be tens of thousands of the next generation introduced to the power of service and how they can transform the world.
These are just two examples of the great work that is happening across the organization during this Season of Giving. Let’s celebrate these gifts of inspiration and mobilization.
In service,
Michelle Nunn
CEO, Points of Light Institute, and Co-Founder, HandsOn Network
Today’s guest post comes from Saumya Haas, Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith.
There is no way to agree on a definition of faith. We each have our own way of understanding. The same can be said for interfaith work. There are lots of ways, and many reasons.
When it comes to faith, I’m everything and nothing: a hereditary Hindu Pujarin, a Unitarian Reverend, and Manbo Asogwe (Priestess of Vodou). I celebrate Christmas and Winter Solstice. I am a religious humanist. I believe in science. I’m not an authority on anything, but I am irrepressibly curious; I question my motives, effectiveness and reason every day. I’m also the Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith: this secular organization exists because of my definition of faith.
I was raised with the idea that certainty is suspect: critical assessment, empathy and debate are necessary vehicles of a faith life. These are also the qualities that advised my family’s deep commitment to interfaith outreach, spiritual education and social equity work. Of course we didn’t use those terms. It was just what we did. I went into the slums and helped. I never failed to notice that the kids I played with and helped during the day didn’t leave at the end of it. This was their real life.
Those slums taught me. I worked with Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and people who practice tribal and folk tradition, with ethnic and cultural groups whose rivalries and divisions make religious differences look like nothing. These groups were made up of sub-groups, of sub-sub-groups. Of individuals. I didn’t know I was an interfaith facilitator. I always felt I was the one learning. I still do.
Today, I live in the USA and my organization, Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, does a variety of things: we are very involved with revitalization efforts in New Orleans, where we are opening a non-denominational Spiritual Space as part of the innovative New Orleans Healing Center. We work with Hindu American Seva Charities to unite Hindu communities across the USA in social service outreach projects, and assist the Pluralism Project at Harvard University with documenting faith diversity. We also provide Social Media advice to other organizations and facilitate events that bring people together in mutual respect and curiosity. We still help the diverse populations in Indian slums by supporting the work of , the organization my parents started, where I discovered what faith, and interfaith could mean.
I learned that if you want to help people, you have to realize that they have a real life, not a life that you imagine or superimpose due to their faith/ethnicity/whatever. They are whole. Our burden is not to help them, but to unburden ourselves of certainty. Both faith and interfaith work require a struggle with our own egos. When I walk into a meeting, a slum, a church, a classroom, I have to remind myself: these people know more than I do. They are authorities on their own lives. I am an authority on mine. That is all.
I struggle with my attachment to results: I want to see the manifestation of my work. Changing societies is the tedious work of generations, of ages. It is happening all the time, but we don’t know how our own contribution will turn out. We can see our failures but it’s never given to us to know what we averted. We cannot measure the impact of things that do not happen: the lives saved, the neighborhoods preserved, the connections that caught and held the world together. We only notice the violence and the loss. The gain is invisibly hidden in the everyday. The proof of its existence is that there is nothing to see. I’m not talking about God; I’m talking about goodness. I’m talking about us.
As an expression of my faith, interfaith work becomes my faith.
I have questions about God that may never be answered, but I’m certain that other people are as real as I am. If God is real he/she/it is encoded by the reality I can see: it is that reality that I engage with. If God is within, then my urge to engage, to speak out against injustice, is also God. But in the end, my faith is most deeply in my fellow humans: in the wisdom of our combined cultures, unique heritage and the spark that gives us curiosity and compassion.
We each might have our own answer, but we seek them together.
Saumya Arya Haas, Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, advises local, national and international inter/faith and social equity organizations. She is a Hindu Pujarin, Unitarian Reverend and Manbo Asogwe (Priestess of Vodou); she blogs about religion at The Huffington Post and around the web. Saumya is an ALB candidate in Religious Studies at Harvard University.
Today’s post originally appeared on November 27, 2007 at Divine Caroline. It is part two of two.
1. Volunteer on Company Time
Increasingly companies are giving back and recruiting their employees to donate time—all on the company’s dime. Make a Difference Day takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October in the U.S. (though several multinational corporations as well as the U.S. military stationed overseas volunteer time as well). Volunteers who are noticed for outstanding work receive awards, charitable donations, and media coverage in USA WEEKEND Magazine during National Volunteer Week in April. Employees of Banco Popular have participated in Make a Difference Day for the past six years. In central Florida, employees worked with the Central Florida Miracle League: youth baseball for children with disabilities. During the game, each child is assigned a volunteer (or buddy) to get to know.
2. Keep It Simple
There is a young man in my town who volunteers his time finding old bikes and repairing them for area nonprofits, community centers, foster homes, and after-school programs. He then throws a party once a year at a local bar to raise money for needy children.
3. Make an Impact When You Truly Can
So many of us have unpredictable schedules and think it’s just not possible to commit any time at all. But Charity Guide recognizes this and offers what they call a Volunteer on Demand approach. You can choose your project based on how much time you have to give. Fifteen minutes? One hour? They have a job for you. Their site is chock full of creative ideas for those truly strapped for time.
4. Volunteer to Meet More People
For many of us, it’s not all about going to heaven. You might not have a lot of extra time, but you do want to socialize. Volunteering is one way to meet new friends, date, or network. One Brick recognizes that some volunteers prefer a more social and flexible volunteer environment. Events are usually three to four hours, and afterward volunteers meet up at restaurants or cafes where they get to know other volunteers.
5. Give Advice from Your Armchair
Virtual volunteering has taken off. If you can’t be there, be virtually there. Many organizations look for those with experience in social entrepreneurship; research, writing, fundraising, or marketing; mentoring youth and sharing wisdom online; and promoting legislation. They also look for professionals in law, journalism, public health, and medicine. Organizations such as Nabuur, Ashoka, icouldbe, Operation Hope, and Lawyers Without Borders, are just the tip of the virtual volunteering iceberg.
Today’s post comes from Kate King, a hard working, versatile New York based writer who has covered film, travel, philanthropy and green issues.
Today’s post originally appeared on November 27, 2007 at Divine Caroline. It is part one of two.
No matter how many items I check off my list, undoubtedly, the list continues to grow. I’m always running out of time, so offering my time feels downright daunting. But with a little creativity and research, I’m finding that it is possible to give back. There are plenty of volunteer opportunities out there. It’s just a matter of finding one that I like—and fits my schedule.
Here are a few ideas if you’re interested in volunteering but have a busy schedule.
1. Know Thyself and Ask Yourself
2. Be Realistic About Your Time and Improvise
The more you enjoy what you’re doing, the less it will feel like “time.” That said, certain kinds of volunteer opportunities may require more time than others. Some organizations require their volunteers to come to meetings once a month, yet much can be done offsite at your own home on your own schedule. For example, I have a friend who works for a state park nonprofit, which only requires him to be at a meeting once a month for two hours. Most of the work he does is at home by phone and email, so he volunteers at his leisure. But if you’re interested in teaching kids to read, it might mean volunteering onsite at a school, once a week, during the work day. If you can’t commit to it, think more broadly about literacy; start a book swap at your local church, community center, or school. Or start a book drive for underserved classroom libraries, foster homes, prisons, mental health facilities, and homeless shelters. Or simply read to someone you know.
3. Think Local
Check out local bulletin boards and ask family, colleagues, and friends how you might contribute. Networking will help you find those once-a-year events that interest you. Local libraries, hospitals, schools, homeless shelters, social service agencies, youth centers, food banks, political headquarters, nature centers, parks, and nonprofits are probably nearby and may need volunteers only once a month or a few times a year.
4. Do Your Research
A search on databases like Idealist or VolunteerMatch can yield amazing results, or can provide ideas that you can then decide to pursue locally. Handy with a hammer or just willing to learn? On VolunteerMatch, I found many volunteer jobs that last one week in places like New Orleans. Or consider joining an established organization like Habitat for Humanity. They estimate that 1,000 volunteers are needed per week to keep up with their construction pace in the Gulf Coast. You can also hunt for ideas on the UN Online Volunteering Service and Network for Good. Check out your local library, too, for specific volunteer opportunities. If you’re willing to go abroad, books such as World Volunteers (3rd Edition): The World Guide to Humanitarian and Development Volunteering, offer short- and long-term projects.
5. Volunteer on Vacation
Give back to a place you’ve visited, meet travelers like yourself, or just do something you like to do anyway. Instead of just seeing the coral reefs in the Caribbean—help protect them! Books such as Volunteer: A Traveler’s Guide to Making a Difference Around the World (Lonely Planet General Reference) will get you focused.
Today’s post comes from Kate King, a hard working, versatile New York based writer who has covered film, travel, philanthropy and green issues.
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