How to Volunteer from Home

June 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Amnesty International 

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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.

 

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Getting Children Involved

November 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The main goal for every parent is to raise their child to be successful, respectful, and responsible, but the demands of society can make that difficult. Because of the demand of work, parents do not spend much time with their children, which leave them little time to teach them lessons school leave out. Parents learned when they were younger that helping others was the right thing to do and they participated in community service without realizing that is what they were doing.

A child will pick up on their parents desire to help others and it teaches them that everyone matters. Everyone knows a child will mimic his or her paren’s actions. If a parent is being selfish, they will learn to be selfish as well. However, if a child sees a parent doing good deeds for others in the community, they will mimic that behavior. Teaching a child to help others does not mean they have to be work with an organization; it can start in their neighborhood.

Children can learn the value of helping others by mowing the lawn or raking leaves for an elderly person in the neighborhood. They can offer to help carry their groceries into the house or change a light bulb they cannot reach. While the actions may seem to small to a parent, a child believes they are changing the lives of others based on their reactions to their kindness. A child can sense another person’s emotions and how happy they are making others by their actions. Without even giving the child a lesson, he or she is learning that helping others is proper.

Parents have the power to teach their children to become good people by getting them involved in the communicating by participating with them. All cities hold drives that help others in the community have food and clothing and parents can get their children involved.

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Big Brother Services Children Like E-Mail Hosting

September 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Children in Hanoi
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Every charity is rewarding in its own way. Whether it be to cure a disease or help out those less fortunate, there is nothing that feels empty about giving yourself to the good of others. However, some charities have a way of making you feel better because of the added bonus of personal relationships you can form. This is why helping children can be an important way to give back and grow yourself as a person.

A great place to start is the Big Brother or Big Sister organization. There are millions of displaced children all over the world and those children not only need someone they can bond with but someone they can learn from as well.

Just like an e-mail hosting service, the Big Brother and Big Sister Organization will pair you up with a child whom you can build a relationship with and build a mentoring relationship with. It’s the beautiful part of this charity. There are so many good kids out there who can be affected by your kindness and your positive spirit.

Most of the children have never had a positive influence in their lives. They are “system” children. They have been in and out of homes and state facilities so they are looking for someone to teach them and believe in them. When you take on this responsibility, you are taking on more than just a play buddy. You are taking on the responsibility of giving hope to others.

Make sure if you are going to do this that you are fully aware of what you are getting into. These children deserve people who want to help and want to make the most of their time, not people who want to break promises. So if you are willing to make a difference, there are a number of children out there who are willing to spend time with you.

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Creating A Volunteering Event

September 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment
"Teacher Appreciation" featured phot...
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Volunteering has so many and varied opportunities for those retirees or a busy mom or a teenager just finishing high school. But there are those individuals who want something unique rather than a volunteering opportunity that anybody can find out about. So here is an idea which will fill a need and give you a unique volunteering job. If you are living in a town of any size, there will be a hospital with a children’s floor. Or if you are in a large metropolitan area there may even be a children’s hospital. In either case, contact the volunteer coordinator at the hospital and tell them that you want to do something special for some of the kids that are hospitalized either for a short period or for a longer period of time. If you want to do your project with several kids then perhaps with the parent’s permission you could take the child’s picture and write up a little about them. If the child is elementary age, take your collection of pictures to a local elementary school and ask to speak to the class or classes of kids the same age. Show them the pictures and leave them there for a week. Challenge the kids to make a cheery card for the hospitalized child and maybe include a stick of gum, some mints, or a little bag of nuts, etc in the card. Tell the teacher and the kids that you will be back to collect the cards in a week. You are volunteering and you are giving a classroom of kids the opportunity to see how good it feels to do something for someone else. You can do this for multiple children in the hospital and even for older kids in middle school or high school. It takes a little time to launch the project, but once you have contacts at the hospital and at the schools, you will be able to stream line the process. Get other moms or dads involved also so that as many of the kids in the hospital will be covered as possible.

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Using Your Property Management Skills to Volunteer

August 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you are interested in volunteering but you’ve never had the opportunity, you may be a little unsure of what to expect. While volunteerism is a great way for everyone to give back to their town and become more involved with local organizations, not everyone has the skills and knowledge needed for each volunteer position. Therefore, to truly benefit an organization in need of volunteers, you should select a volunteer position that fits your skills and interests.

Discovering Your Skills

Many people who volunteer often find that donating their time also provides a chance for self-reflection and for maximizing their talents. When you donate your time to a volunteer position that matches your skills, you will be much more of an asset to the organization in need of your time.

To discover the skills you possess and that will be of value when giving back to the community, you can start by making a list of the tasks you complete at work each day. For example, if you are involved in property management, you likely work on a variety of building maintenance issues and work to ensure everyone involved with the buildings you maintain are satisfied. These skills would transfer perfectly into a volunteer opportunity that involved home building and maintenance for families in need.

Donating Your Time

After you uncover your best skills and top interests, you are ready to find an organization that matches them. To accomplish this, you can contact a few local organizations and describe your desire to donate your time. During this conversation, mention that you feel you would be of most use in a volunteer position that included certain tasks to utilize your skills. The person you speak with will likely be very impressed of the thought you put into volunteering your time and will hopefully have the perfect opportunity for you.

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