Volunteering

[M2d]

Boris,
one thing i do (not enough lately) that you might be interested in is help out at kids fishing derbies. basically, you're there to tie rigs, put on bait, remove fish, and make sure no one falls in. most of the kids who show up at these things have never fished before and the look on a kid's fish as s/he first feels one on the end of the line is priceless.

also, many of the ffing clubs in the valley have clean up days when they all go up and pick up trash along some stream or another. I think Davis ffers does putah creek every year.

[pokulator]

i've been volunteering for a long time now and it has been one of the most rewarding parts of my life. i currently mentor a 13 year old kid who was removed from his home about 5 years ago and has been bouncing around group homes since. his dad died soon after being released from jail two years ago and both of his sisters have been in other group homes around the city.

I got matched up with him because his first group home had a volunteer program that best fit my requirements - a flexible schedule and minimal training time. The staff was so happy to have a male volunteer (they said they get 90% women) and I was quickly matched up with this boy and my girlfriend at the time was matched up with his older sister.

I assume that the pride I have felt watching him grow up is similar to a parent’s although I don’t have delusions that everything in his life is going to be perfect because of my mentoring. I also recognize how much volunteering has done for my life, which I think many people fail to consider before volunteering. Many people think volunteering just helps others, but it does just as much for the person doing the volunteering. It has helped me see things from different perspectives, feel lucky and thankful for the hand I was dealt in life, and made me feel like an overall better person.

Each week I stress a little about trying to find the time to see him, but when the visit is over i always know that it was worth it. For those that still aren’t convinced how great volunteering can be here are two other things to consider for the young male poker players out there:

9:1 ratio at all training and social activities
tax deductions

[SackUp]

I've started volunteering a ton more now that I am a lawyer. It is really nice to give back to the community.

Volunteer attorney program: this is a cool program where we do over the phone legal counseling. Most of the issues deal with housing as this is something that can be readily handled over the phone. It is really nice to help people - especially these people who really need it as often their shelter is at stake.

Mock Trial: I had a blast coaching a high school mock trial team this year. The kids work really hard and are willing to learn from you. I helped completely turn the program around from a 1-5 team last year to 4-2 and top 5 in the County. Hope to build from there and make it to the County finals next year.

Habitat: Did this in college and just recently did it a couple weekends ago. Great group.

Church groups are often a great group to work with as they tend to have some of the lowest overhead around so the money and energy actually goes directly to those in need. Church groups are definitely the best when donating money - some have under 5% overhead - Food for the Poor is a great example of such groups.

Middle School Football Coach: This was probably by far my favorite experience. I love sports and love to teach our youth. I hope to continue coaching football and look to spread to wrestling and baseball soon.

[Cornell Fiji]

At the age of 15 I started an organization of kids who would dress up as clowns and visit local childrens hospitals.

I had a friend who played the guitar and when he came along to the hospital the kids absolutely went nuts. Just seeing the pure joy on the childrens faces when they saw clowns in their play room or their hospital room really was an amazing feeling.

Since I founded the organization at 16 me and my friends were severly untrained but there were always in the room with us in case anything happened... Like the time that Anthony Blackmon got bit by a kid with a severe muscular disease.

We are unsure if the child bit Anthony because he was overexcited or if he just didn't like the fingerpuppet on Anthony's hand but it was a scary couple weeks for all of us waiting to make sure that Anthony did not pick up any diseases from the child.

Despite that one hiccup it was an extremely rewarding experience and is something that I plan on doing again after I graduate

[Wes Mantooth]

El Diablo, great thread!

If anyone is interested this site, VolunteerMatch, may be helpful for finding places in areas near you. I am not too familiar with the site but it has search option by zip code that could help find any opportunities near you. Also it lists many different/unique organizations that may not be as well known.

If anyone experience with any volunteer organizations in the Washington DC area please PM me, thanks.

[El Diablo]

Wes,

Note that onebrick in my OP has a DC group. I bet HandsOn probably does too. I'd encourage you to check out those two groups.

[Senor Choppy]

[ QUOTE ]
If anyone is interested this site, VolunteerMatch, may be helpful for finding places in areas near you. I am not too familiar with the site but it has search option by zip code that could help find any opportunities near you. Also it lists many different/unique organizations that may not be as well known.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've used volunteermatch.com and it's great. I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, and seeing so many different opportunities in one place was really helpful.

[mscags]

Annie's Hope

This is a St. Louis based organization for grieving kids. It is an absolutely amazing organization. I volunteer at their summer camp every summer called Camp Courage. It is a week long overnight camp where we do things like rafting, horseback riding, fishing, swimming, play tons of games, have a talent show, etc. The first week I went I can honestly say was the best week of my entire life. It is the best week of my year every year and Im incredibly sad that I have to miss this year because I will be in Spain. You're whole outlook on life changes when you get to know these incredible kids, Truly it can be a life changing experience. For more info PM me or visit www.annieshope.org (Not sure how done the site is, they're in the process of redoing it)

[cobrakai111]

I have a ton I could write on this due to working within various non profits ever since I've left college. My favorite experience though was Relay for Life. Had an awesome time with friends, met amazing people, etc.

Pretty much you form teams and at least on member has to run a track through the night. You continuous switch off while the others are partying, drinking, hitting on girls, doing team building games, etc. relay for life

[Aces McGee]

[ QUOTE ]
Selfish, I know, but I'm doing this largely for me

[/ QUOTE ]

Diablo,

This is probably beyond the scope of this thread, but the above statement has me curious. Does the satisfaction of volunteering come from donating your time to help people, or the act of helping them itself?

For example, if Habitat for Humanity (NOT the person for whom you were building the house) paid you to work on a project, would you be as satisfied with the experienced? More satisfied? Less?

I'm in no way knocking you for feeling this way: self importance or a similar motive is a major driver behind volunteering, and kudos to you for admitting it instead of pretending like civic duty is the sole reason behind your volunteering. I'm just curious because I know that I got the same level of satisfaction tutoring rich kids in math (for which I was paid very well by the kids' parents) as I did tutoring poor kids in math (for which I was paid minimum wage by the school), and that was no more or less satisfying than working at a community youth garden or working with the mentally handicapped (for which I wasn't paid at all). That is, the satisfaction I got came from helping someone who needed it and who couldn't otherwise help themselves.

-McGee