volunteer more

I love to volunteer.
In a special-needs school, Humane Society, soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity house, or just by donating a few dollars to the ASPCA, whatever it may be, I feel so awake and fresh with myself when I’m through. I even volunteered to help recycle pop cans back in high school for an organization I wasn’t even a part of. I’d love to even develop a non-profit myself someday, although that might take years to develop.

I’m marking this off for now, but I’ll definitely continue to pursue this for as long as I’m able.

It just came from a matter of thinking, but coming back to an entry from quite awhile ago, I think that it would be good for me to start volunteering at a humane society, or an animal shelter. My love of my four-legged friends is very strong, and I would like to take time to devote to the other dogs and cats without homes. I might even foster… ooh, I wonder what the Abmeister would think about that…

On the 22nd, Paul and I shopped at Meijer with the four-hundred dollars his floor raised to buy a family they adopted Christmas dinner and more, and then delivered all the food plus presents to the grateful family in downtown Holt. It was nice to see the joy in a complete stranger during this time of year. It made going to a busy grocery store during the Saturday morning before Christmas worth it.

Paul and I signed up to be volunteers of a permanent sort for the Special Olympics in Michigan in July. I faxed our applications in, but we never got anything back from them stating that they had received the apps, or even that our background check went through okay (and of course it would!). So it’s a bummer, but I think it’s something I can take care of.

I’ve had the application to the Cascades Humane Society for over a month now, and I have filled it out, but have not made the trek to Jackson to turn it in. Why? I have no clue. I checked off the things I would most like to do: “Cat Cuddling” and “Dog Walking.” I think it’s the semi-long and potentially confusing trip there that is putting me off.

Last week I did a three-hour session at the Lyle Torrent Center in Jackson. The Torrent Center is a school for kids with mental handicaps from the ages of 2-26 to learn simple things like folding towels to patterning. I was placed in a room with six kids in wheelchairs. They couldn’t speak, and barely move. It was heartbreaking, but rewarding all the same. I’m considering going back, but it there is something holding me back. It seems so odd, but I just get so angry that I can’t save them from living a full life.