be more charitable

Just a little bit here and there. I feel like I probably ought to be giving more, but it’s so hard to make myself do it when I know I’ll have other important things to spend money on (like house and baby!) I guess I need to sit down with DH and come up with a spending (i.e. “giving”) target for our budget.

to volunteer for a trailbuilding exercise as part of National Trails Day in two weeks.

It’s not like I have to sign up for it ahead of time, so I just wanted to make an official statement about my intention so I can’t weasel out of it too easily.

I promised for the Revlon Run/Walk. I’ll mail it off along with the other check-pledges when I stop by the post office tomorrow morning.

I just signed up! It’s the Revlon Run/Walk for Women in Los Angeles on May 12, supporting the fight against Women’s cancers. I think I will be donating about $50 (in addition to the registration fee, which just covers administrative costs) but my fundraising goal is $250 total. I will be asking my friends and family for support in this matter, but I would encourage any and all of you 43Ters to help support the cause! Please consider making a small donation ($5 or $10) to sponsor me or just make a general donation.

Wish me luck on race day!

I think I’m going to start tutoring at a local middle school, through a program supported by my employer. It’s 1.5 hours, twice a week, but how often I actually do it will depend somewhat on how DH feels about having to take the bus home…

Also, regarding the money DH and I are planning to donate: since it’s getting on toward the end of the year, I’m going to wait until just after the new year to make the cash donation. Maybe it’s a little selfish, but it’s because we’re not itemizing deductions on this year’s tax return, but we probably will on next year’s.

Yesterday three elementary school girls rang my doorbell. They were nearly to the next apartment over by the time my husband and I got to the door. As my husband stuck his head out the door, they came scampering back. I could tell they were out for a school fundraiser.

“Wanna buy anything?” they asked, as they handed me four catalogs: one for magazine subscriptions, one for chocolates, one for home decorations, and one for gift-wrapping supplies.

“Umm, I guess I could use some birthday wrapping paper,” I responded, after glancing quickly at the catalogs to determine their general content. I flipped to the back of the gift-wrapping catalog and chose the first birthday pattern I could find. “I’ll take this one.” It cost $8.50.

I could see them light up as they started to take down my order. “Do we pay now,” asked my husband, “or after we get the wrapping paper?”

“Now,” the girls agreed.

My husband and I looked through our wallets. I asked, “Do you have any change for a ten? We don’t have any dollar bills.”

The girls huddled up to confer. They didn’t seem to know what to do, and I had seen on their order form that I was their first customer. “Hmmm,” I said, “We can pay with a five dollar bill plus some quarters, if that’s ok?” The girls grinned as they nodded their heads.

My husband ran to the bedroom to get the quarters, and came back with 14 quarters. The littlest girl held her hands out to take them, along with the five-dollar bill, and she struggled not to drop them – they barely fit in her cupped hands. “Thank you,” the girls said as they scurried off, not even bothering to count the quarters.

As I shut the door, I smiled at the thought that their next customer would be getting his change in quarters.

—
I’m not sure why I decided to write my story in narrative like that, but it seemed appropriate. This was the first time since I’ve been on my own that I’ve had kids come to my door for a fundraiser (I’ve been living in dorms, inaccessible apartments, and the like.) I felt good about supporting them – I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid.

I’ve also just realized I’ll probably get some trick-or-treaters at Halloween, and that makes me happy.

• Animals
• Children
• Environment
• Health & medicine
• Housing
• Hunger
• Seniors

I generally feel that my time would be more effective if I pick one category and volunteer regularly for the same cause. But I had a hard time trying to pick one category. There are some things which I feel are less important but would be more fun, and some things which I feel are more important but I’ve never done before so I’m kind of scared to do it.

So, I decided: I’m young, I don’t have to commit to one cause just yet. For the next 12 months I plan to try one new type of volunteering opportunity per month – something I’ve never done before. This will expose me to each of the different areas I’m interested in and help me on my quest to have more adventures.

I am hoping that this approach will allow me to settle on a cause which is important to me, which is fun, and which I’m not scared to do because I’ve never done it before.

...in the car on the way to a friend’s house. That’s really the best place to have conversations he doesn’t want to have because he can’t run off and do something else :-)

We decided on a dollar amount and a type of charity to which we’d like to donate money this year. Now I get to go off and research that type of charity to find out what our options are. I also still need to think about my priorities in terms of volunteering my time.

Sounds like the name of a song or something. Well, those are the three things I plan to donate.

Blood is easy; I already donate blood at every corporate blood drive. I don’t know how often they have them at my new workplace. If it’s less than 5 times a year I may start going to a Red Cross center so that I can give more often.

1. What are our priorities?
2. How much are we willing to donate, and to whom?

In between I’ll need to do a little research into what charities map to our priorities so I can come to the second discussion prepared. I’ll try to have discussion #1 by the end of September and discussion #2 by the end of October. The result should be a plan that can last us a few years, until our finances change substantially.

My time is my own and I can decide on my own where I want to spend it. I think I’ll break my thought process into two parts corresponding to the two discussions I’ll be having with DH, with the same deadlines. If I have thought about these things before we have our discussions, I think they’ll be more productive and meaningful. I’ll talk to DH about my plan so he can think about these things ahead of time, too.

I’ll consider this goal complete when I have written this year’s checks and done my first volunteer session (whatever that may be.)