volunteer more

Last summer I volunteered at least once a week for a whole day at an animal shelter (mainly because my fiancee worked there). I had no job at the time so it was a welcome break from getting out of the house. I volunteer a lot around campus, but it isn’t true volunteer work. I need to get back to that. Maybe not as much as I used to, but at least more than I currently am.

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.

I volunteer quite a lot but I heard about this youth program that the red cross was having in the summer and I decided to join. I RSVPed and everything but when the date came I totaly SPACED. I missed the orientation completely! I felt SO Bad. I’m going to write a letter of apology and reschedule.

I’m going to set up a shoe drive this coming fall for these guys

I’m a volunteer judge for the Summer Reading Program Talent Show . . . this should be interesting.

i don’t really know what is entitled in the “more”, but i figure once i have a regular schedule and feel those WARM FUZZIES that all community service advocates relate, i’ll have completed this.

that being said, i’m participating in a car wash for an animal rescue foundation on saturday.

I am volunteering to play board games with senior on 20th of this month

to help a volunteering project by doing what i do best: design. so i would dedicate part of my time doing folders, banners, poster, invitations and websites for institutions. i just need to organize myself better so i don’t get all messed up.

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.

I just got back from a leadership camp and was amazed and how much the other leaders had done with their lives. Some were big brother/big sisters, some volunteered with the mentally disabled, some volunteered with animals and others travelled to help people in third world countries. I am now motivated to make a difference and I plan to start by working at my local humane society. I want to be a Big Sister one day too, but it is a 18 month minumum commitment and since I am away at school 8 months and home for 4 months I can’t be in one place to be with my little sister. Once I am done school or get a car I plan to get involved with this though.