volunteer more

Through a professional colleague, I learned about a terrific workshop called Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions. The course, which originated at Stanford University, is now offered at no charge in locations all over North America.

At first I was interested in taking the course, but my colleague pointed out that, like her, I’m well-suited to become one of the course’s peer co-leaders. Everyone who leads the course either has personal experience living with a chronic condition (my colleague has muscular dystrophy, and her co-leader has multiple sclerosis) or is a caregiver for someone who does. My colleague gets enormous satisfaction from her stints co-leading this workshop. Turns out that an old friend with rheumatoid arthritis also teaches it, and has had a similarly positive experience.

So in March, I applied for and was accepted into the brief leader-training course. I’ve now completed that training, and at some point in the next few months, I expect to be assigned to co-lead my first group. This seems to be a perfect fit: it uses a skill set (leading groups) that’s a strength of mine, and it makes good use of all those years of struggling with Crohn’s disease.

I still plan to sign up for the next Volunteer Visitor training through the local Ostomy Association chapter, as well.

• assisting in the library for a mental-health facility
• accompanying residents of a local AIDS hospice on appointments and other outings (he once got to take a fellow shopping at IKEA!)
• providing community meals and free ESL tutoring at a local drop-in centre
• tutoring adults in literacy at the public library
• answering calls for a distress line

One of those organizations will probably turn out to have a volunteer position that both suits me and feels personally meaningful. Right now, I’m leaning toward choosing an activity that won’t involve teaching, just for variety. I loved my one-day stint with Habitat for Humanity last summer, so that’s another option.

I won’t mark this goal done until I’ve actually started at least one of these volunteer activities.

...but it’s in limbo for now, pending the settling of the question of how I will earn my living.

If all goes well, I hope to be able to make some major “official” moves in this direction – that is, volunteering for one or more recognized/recognizable charities – by the end of the summer, and possibly by summer’s start.

Meanwhile, I continue to do whatever “unofficial” volunteering I have the energy for: knitting for charities, looking after friends’ dogs, helping sick and disabled neighbours, and serving on a couple of committees for the terrific 3D community in which I’m blessed to live.

• Humane Society (dog walking: good for my physical and emotional health)
• Hospital for Sick Children
• palliative care
• Ostomy Association (especially visiting new ostomates to show them it’s possible to live a full life post-surgery, and maybe a public presentation [stand-up comedy routine?] at a meeting, a conference, or a World Ostomy Day event)
• “Out of the Cold” program (feeding the homeless)
• more Habitat for Humanity builds

Two-thirds of my team did interior painting (second coat on one kitchen and bathroom; first coat on the same rooms in the townhouse next door), and the remaining three tackled trim.

I took 40-odd pictures, in between painting and singing. This one shows a partner in our firm feeding a power saw operated by another team member. (We were 6 women and 3 men. I was the team leader. The woman in the picture was the most senior in the firm’s hierarchy; the most junior were a summer student and a freshly minted grad who starts with the firm in September, but got special dispensation to do her volunteer day now.)

I’ll do it again for sure.

...that will be helping at a Habitat for Humanity build on July 24.

Our firm provides one paid day per year for every staff member who participates in a Team Volunteering Activity. The firm’s charitable foundation scouts out the possibilities (a marvelous variety) and posts them on our intranet: then it’s just a matter of picking a suitable activity that’s geographically accessible and suits one’s schedule – and recruiting a team of like-minded colleagues to participate.

I’m excited to be able to particpate in this worthwhile endeavour. I’m sure we’ll have fun, learn plenty, and feel hugely well rewarded.

The local chapter of the United Ostomy Association of Canada has a visiting program, under which people who’ve successfully survived and thrived after ostomy surgery visit – either by phone or in person – with people who’ve just had the surgery, or are about to have it.

Giving encouragement, support, information, and empathy – right up my alley. Seems like an excellent use of my volunteer energies.

I’ve just sent an e-mail to the program’s co-ordinator volunteering my services.

I already do a reasonable amount of volunteering: 4 to 10 hours a month officially, not to mention all the “unofficial” hours on several Internet sites.

Between that and other priorities (e.g., working to support my book-buying habit), I’m not really in a position to do much more at the moment.

At some point, I may want to change the nature of the volunteering I’m doing. (I have a long-standing dream of working in palliative care.)

For now, though, I’m quite committed to continuing with the committee I’m currently on.