OT: Charities, volunteering, etc...

No one is absolutely altruistic. We all want to get something out of our charitable donations and our time volunteering. I think I m not alone in taking pride in my charitable activities. So I thought this could be our bragging thread, and also a chance to plug our own favorite causes.

As I do not have spare money, I donate books to the prison books program, and teach English as a second language to adult immigrants. My mother is an avid reader and sends me books she has read once. Unfortunately, my mother does not quite understand that I have a serious problem with concentration and cannot read these books, despite my desire to do so. However, by donating them, I feel I have achieved what my mother desires, that someone read and enjoy them. Teaching English is the best thing that ever happened to me. It is so fulfilling. I enjoy it so much and, if I do say so myself, I am very good at it. My grandfather's family emigrated from Poland just before WWII (smart move). I feel like I am extending the same welcome to my students that my great grandparents received when new comers. I also donate furniture and clothing to GoodWill when cleaning out my apartment, and drop a few cans in the food drive box. (BTW, what is needed most in charitable food pantries is food containing protein, not vegetables.)

So what do you guys do?

Last year before my SA took a turn for the worse, my wife and I volunteered every Monday at the Denver Rescue Mission, a 'Jesus Saves' downtown mission which provides 4 meals a day plus beds for the homeless. We'd wake up at 430 am and get down there by about 530 and work till 7 serving breakfast to about 150 to 200 homeless men and women.

I also make financial donations through my business to the same mission. Whenever we go through our clothing and shoes that we don't wear anymore, if it's in good condition we also donate it there as well.

As soon as I am feeling a little better we intend to start spending our Monday mornings there again.

Wow, that's great, Ameriken. I am sure people really appreciate your help. Unfortunately there are always people in need of food and shelter, but it's good they have people like you to help out.

I like this post Snug

I give close and things to the Lupus foundation and also help build a house every summer for habit for humanity.

I work each weekend with the children's ministry at church. I'm pretty much the right-hand-woman for the children's pastor who is my friend. I probably spend about 20 hours/week working for the church between decorating, writing skits, working with kids, planning, etc. I call it my second job. It's funny, because if you'd asked me 5 years ago to work in the children's ministry program, I would have said you were nuts. I used to be in the band, and then worked in the tech booth, but through some random circumstances I ended up in the children's ministry program and stuck around. I used all of my vacation days this year with the kids on a mission project and at camp.

I also sometimes volunteer at Christian music concerts, but I don't really consider that volunteering so much as getting a free concert. I have some sensory processing issues which make it virtually impossible for me to sit in a concert and enjoy it, because it's just too loud. But when I volunteer to sell the band's merchandise, I get in for free, get to stand in the hallway the whole show where the volume is perfect, usually get a free t-shirt, and sometimes get to meet the band. Honestly, it's my favorite way to see a concert.

I volunteered at a special needs horseback riding program last fall, and really enjoyed that, too. I didn't do it in the spring, though, because the only time that fit my schedule was early Saturday mornings, and my undiagnosed sleep apnea had me whipped! Plus, it turns out that I'm terribly allergic to the horse barn...

The thing I love about volunteering is it's a great chance to go do something totally random that you would never otherwise do: Walk 60 miles for breast cancer. Drive around like a maniac in a cargo van putting up signs for the breast cancer walkers. Raise newborn kittens. Have a house full of 20 cats. Lead horses around. Get to know some pretty cool kids. Feed the homeless in Costa Rica. Learn how to roof a house. Learn how to operate a credit card machine. Promote your favorite radio station at the home & garden expo. Sort food at the food bank. Sterilize hospital equipment for surgery. Paint murals.

Basically, if I'm free and the chance comes up, I'll try anything once. It's really helped me to get a lot of different experiences and grow a ton.

I am a hospital auxiliary volunteer. I am on my local hospital board, head of the regional board and on the provincial board. We raise funds to purchase valuable equipment to make the patients stay in our hospitals a less stressful one.
Cheers volunteers!
Nan

A retired pastor friend sponsors the Rock of Africa outreach in Zimbabwe through his ministry, the World Bible Society. I have the link in my sig line. I'm naturally skeptical of charitable orgs, but this is one I can see the inner workings of. Nobody takes a salary, everyone raises their own support, the pastor lives upstairs in his daughter's house, doesn't even own his own car. So I have no problem supporting them.

50% of the adults in Zimbabwe are infected with the AIDS virus, which leaves thousands of their children orphaned. We in the West naturally assume that there must be relatives who might be able to care for their relatives' children, but sadly, in that culture such children face a very bleak existence, as little more than their relatives' slaves. Compounding that are local beliefs among the tribal people that if a man contracts the AIDS virus he can be cured by having sex with a virgin, which makes young girls' lives a nightmare.

So I give what I can, and volunteer my time editing and producing daily radio broadcasts for the World Bible Society that sponsors the Rock of Africa. Check out the link and listen to what Dennis Prager and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach have to say about the Rock of Africa.