Community

How to Volunteer from Home

June 6, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Volunteering for a non-profit organization can be a wonderful, enriching experience. However, in today’s busy world, it’s not always possible to pitch in. Fortunately, there are easy ways that you can help from home. Here are a few ways you can easily contribute to worthy organizations.

Work to end a human rights violation by sending an email. Amnesty International’s Online Action Center sends action alerts each week. The alert has a pre-written email message that details the issue and encourages state senators or government officials to take action. All you have to do is sign your name to the message.

Volunteer for Hugs and Hope, an organization that works with terminally ill children. The organization provides brief biographies of sick children, as well as their addresses. You can send a cheerful card to help brighten their day.

Send supplies to a family in need through Project Box, which connects sponsor volunteers with rural families who struggle to provide their children with basic necessities. Each month, you simply choose supplies to send; they can be anything from school supplies to shampoo, soap and deodorant. You can develop a relationship with the family through their monthly letters as well.

If you have a website or blog, add an Amber Alert ticker. The ticker will display pictures of children who have been reported missing. You’ll be helping get the message out about the child’s disappearance, and perhaps someone who visits your site can help the cause.

Utilize your talents to help a worthy organization. Offer to volunteer for a local charity by designing a website, proofreading brochures or writing promotional material for the organization.

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Child, Non-profit organization, volunteer

Benefits of Volunteering in the Community

May 4, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia

There are many benefits to volunteering and community service. Volunteering in the community provides a multi-facet of benefits any of which is reason enough to take the big step. Find fulfillment in yourself by using volunteering to advance your career, find personal fulfillment and help the lives of others.

1.) Advancing your career- Volunteering to advance your career begins with high school. It is a requirement in many high schools to perform a set number of volunteering hours in order to graduate. Even if it isn’t required, you should be volunteering if you have plans to attend college. Admissions offices love to see a solid history of volunteer work on your resume.

2.) Advancing yourself personally- There is a great joy that comes with volunteering and helping others. While we customarily trades our services for money, it is great for the soul to give of yourself with no intentions other than helping others.

3.) Helping the less fortunate- There are plenty of people in your community who are less fortunate than yourself. By virtue of the fact that you are reading an article on the internet dictates you are better off than someone living on the street. You will receive general appreciation from people who needed your help and will remember your contribution for years to come.

Volunteering has a number of benefits but none of them make a difference if you don’t go out and start. Few people ever regret volunteering and it’s usually something a person will do time and time again once they start.

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Community service, High school, volunteer

Getting Involved In Community Service

April 4, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia

It doesn’t take much effort to get involved in community service and it can be one of the most worthwhile things you can do in your life. The first thing to do is pick something that you care about, or want to see improve, and volunteer to do community service. Think about all the different things you would love to help out with.

Talk to someone in the area in which you want to get involved in. There are many different areas such as volunteering at a hospital, at your church, at a school, or at an animal shelter. These are just a few of the places that love to take volunteers. Community service doesn’t have to be hard work. Sometimes, such as in a hospital, people just need someone to talk to or read to them. Not only are you helping them, but you are also becoming a better person. Helping with small children and other people who cannot help themselves can be one of the most fulfilling experiences of your life.

Remember to have fun and have a positive attitude while serving your community. Also try to get involved in places that often do community service events, such as a zoo, a museum, or a women’s league. Getting involved is also a great way to meet new people who share the same interests as you.

Try to get your friends, family, and coworkers to help you out as well. The more people you can get to help, the more rewarding your experience will be. Getting involved in community service is hard work, but the rewards at the end are well worth the effort.

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Community service, Philanthropy, volunteers

Avoiding Jail With Community Service

March 28, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

For misdemeanor offenses, those who commit crimes are sometimes sentenced to community service instead of going to jail. Jails are overcrowded as it is and most agree there is no sense in filling the walls with those who commit minor offenses. Still, people who are found guilty of crimes must be punished. Often time these punishments will include some combination of probation, fines, or community service. A judge must examine the case and decide how likely the offender is to be habitual, and hat the best punishment is to suit the crime. Some examples of the punishments include:

1.) Hours of unpaid work- The amount of community service a person is sentenced to has a lot to do with how much trouble they have been in in the past. For example, a judge is likely to be far more lenient on a first time offender then someone they have repeatedly told to clean up their act.

2.) Training- If a judge sees an opportunity for an offender to obtain job skills in addition to helping the community, that is most likely the path his sentencing will take. On the site job training could be as simple as learning to fix cars and at the same time, repairing cars of people in the community who can really use the help.

3.) Cleaning up: Whether it is the city park or the neighboring area of the local high school, it is likely there is litter to be picked up. A popular form of community service by criminals is to help remove trash from the area in order to preserve the integrity of the neighborhood.

Obey the judges sentence and be sure to learn from the experience.

Filed Under: Community, Society Tagged With: Community service, Crime, Prison

How a Non-Profit Can Increase Its Efficiency

February 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Non-profit organizations feel the same effects during a recession as private organizations do. They all struggle, and they all need help in order to move forward and continue to help those who need their services. It’s important to be as efficient as possible in any organization. There are various ways in which you can do that, and it’s important to explore them carefully and thoroughly. Then you can make the right choice for your company and be able to thrive even when the economy isn’t that good.

One way to be more efficient is to utilize online software for collaboration. That way, you aren’t spending a lot of money on software when you could be using something for free. Don’t spend money that you don’t have to spend. Just use the free options and free versions of software, unless you absolutely can’t accomplish what you need that way. Also, pay close attention to social media, and get involved with it. When you do that you can promote your cause for free. You can also get involved with other non-profit companies that have similar or related goals, and then you can promote one another. It’s a great way to get even more free advertising.

Consider supplying your employees with a prepaid credit card, too, for anything work related they may normally buy, like office supplies, gasoline for a company vehicle, or similar expenses. If you do that, you can keep better track of how much you’re spending and you’ll be more comfortable giving your employees the chance to purchase their own items to a certain extent. The more you do in an effort to save money and spend less, the better off you’ll be when it comes to weathering a recession. That will help you and your employees, along with the people who need the services your company offers.

Filed Under: Community, Money Tagged With: Company, Employment, Non-profit organization

Community Service as Alternative Sentencing

February 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Community service can be a show of good faith towards your community. It can help enrich your soul and allow you to make a difference in your free time. Not all community service kinds from the kindness of someones heart however. Indeed, many judges will order people to do community service as an alternative to jail or other punishments. Here are a few common forms of community service done by those who didn’t exactly volunteer their services. However, many without a job or means of earning money will view it as a better alternative to fines and jail.

1.) A Direct Reflection of an Infraction: Many times the community service assigned will reflect the crime committed by the offender. For example, a drunk driver given the choice to educate others on the dangers of drunk driving might be able to avoid jail time but talking to youn people at a school or community center. The same could be true for someone who hits someone in a crosswalk while texting their phone. If that person were to go to a school to tell the story of what could happen as a result of distracted driving, the may be able to get a reduced sentence.

2.) You Will Most Likely be Observed by the Police- A deterrent to this type of community service could be that you would be working directly under the police. For many people who have committed a crime, this is certainly not welcome news. Most of this type of community service is done on the weekend for a county agency and usually under police supervision. It should go without saying that it’s best to just do your work with your mouth closed and not risk further punishment by not working because a cop is around.

Being assigned community service leaves you with but one choice. Do your work and try and stay out of trouble so you don’t have to come back.

Filed Under: Community, General Tagged With: Community service, Crime, Prison

Ways to Give to Yourself

January 27, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

One of the best things that someone can do is to give of themselves. One of the ways that they can do this is by volunteering to do something for someone else. Another way is by giving of themselves in one of the ways that are listed below.

Donate Blood – The first thing that you can do is to donate blood. There are a lot of people who need blood and not enough people who are willing to donate it. You can save a life by donating blood and giving it to someone who needs it. You can also donate plasma and platelets, two other things that people often need and not enough people volunteer to do it.
Donate Hair – The second thing that you can do is to donate hair to a place called Locks of Love. This is an organization that collects hair to make wigs for children who are on chemotherapy and who have lost their own hair. If you have long hair and you are thinking of getting a new cut, why not donate that extra hair to a worthy cause?
Donate Organs – The third thing that you can do is to donate your organs. If you have a driver’s license, all you have to do is to say that you want to be an organ donor when you get your license renewed. A lot of people can benefit from your organs if you were to die suddenly and their families would be eternally grateful. If you decide to do this, make sure that your family is aware of your decision.

These are the three things that you can do to give of yourself to others. They seem like easy things to do but they make such a huge impact on the people that you help and they make you feel really good about yourself.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Blood donation, Locks of Love

Reasons Why People Volunteer

January 25, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

There are people who wonder why others so freely volunteer of their time. The truth is that there are a lot of good reasons why people volunteer. Here are some of the most popular and heartfelt reasons to volunteer that people have stated.

To make some new friends
To build professional and personal contacts
To build up self confidence and self esteem
To develop great new on the job skills
To really make a difference in our world
To increase his or her personal satisfaction
To put some more experience on his or her resume
To develop some people skills
To feel appreciated and needed
To explore possibilities for the future
To share skills he or she has with other people
To feel challenged
To earn some academic credit
To improve overall health
To have some fun!

A lot of people decide that they want to volunteer for the reasons above. When someone decides to volunteer at the hospital, it’s often because they are thinking of a career in medicine. But that doesn’t make their efforts and their choices any less valuable. It’s still admirable that they are volunteering their time.

When someone decides that they want to become a volunteer, they are making a statement to the world. They are saying that they want to make a big difference and they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart. It’s true that they are not getting paid for what they are doing and that it’s going to look good on a college application, but they are still giving up their time to help. It’s something that really is neat for them to do and it takes a special person to decide to volunteer. Not everyone is willing to give so freely of their time and their resources to get so little in return.

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: volunteer

What Exactly is a Halfway House?

January 24, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

A halfway house is a facility (sometimes it’s an actual house) where people who have been in a drug treatment facility, such as MichaelsHouse.com, go to complete their treatment. The halfway house serves as a “step” between leaving rehab and re-entering the “real world.”

The benefits of a halfway house are many. These include giving residents a safe place to return to each day after working or going to school so that they are not tempted to remain in situations where the temptation to drink or use drugs may occur. For those residents whose addiction caused them to become homeless, a halfway house provides them with a temporary place to live while they finish treatment and start taking the necessary steps to once again become a productive member of society.

Halfway houses are staffed by counselors who continue to provide support while the residents are coping with leaving rehab and re-entering society. For some, this may be a very stressful transition, and knowing that a counselor is waiting at the halfway house when they return can help them handle the stress better.

Counseling at a halfway house is one way in which someone who is qualified to do so can volunteer his time and services. Offering to serve as a volunteer counselor may alleviate some of the financial strain on the halfway house, as it is not necessary to pay for counseling services since they are being donated.

Other opportunities for volunteering at halfway houses include providing transportation, especially for those residents who have lost their driving privileges and have not yet had them reinstated, or providing meals. Some halfway houses require the residents to prepare meals as part of their preparation for becoming self-sufficient once more; however, this does not mean they would not welcome already prepared meals, particularly on special occasions, such as holidays.

Filed Under: Community, Society Tagged With: Halfway house, Health, Prison, United States

Community Fundraising Part 5: Ideas for a School

January 22, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

When it comes to school fundraisers, not all of them are done through outside sources. Sometimes fundraisers are done right inside the school. Here are some of the things that can be done right inside the school to help raise money for school functions.

Special Dress Days – One of the things that a school can do is have special dress days. For example, for schools that have dress codes they can have a day where they can wear jeans. Schools can also have things like Crazy Hat and Ugly Tie days. The students will have to pay for the priveleges.
Game Nights – The second thing that a school can do is to have a game night where people are going to pay to come in and play the games. The games can be things like chess, backgammon, and Monopoly. The winners of the games win prizes.
Choir and Band concerts – The third thing that a school can do is to have a benefit concert given by either the band or the choir and charge an admission to come to the concert.
Bake Sale – The fourth thing that a school can do is to have a bake sale in the school on a weekend with the proceeds going to the school for the money that they need.
Bazaar – The final thing that a school can do is to have a bazaar and hold it right there on the school grounds or in the cafeteria, depending on the weather. They can rent tables for so much per table and baked goods, and other things.

These are five good fundraising ideas of things that can be done right at a school to get money for a good cause in the school. All five of them are effective ways to raise money and they are all ways that people can have fun and enjoy themselves while getting the money that the school needs.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Bake sale, Monopoly