Volunteering

[guids]

IMO, i dont get a feeling of satisfactoin from helping someone, in fact, ecspecially working with kids, its emmotionally pretty hard, but it def helps me be appreciative of what I have, and for some reason, even though sometimes after I get a little depressed, it is emmotionally calming.

[JaBlue]

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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

[/ QUOTE ]

I did relay for life with a bunch of friends in highschool and it sucked. Very surprisingly, it sucked. That was probably their (the friends') fault though, I bet it could be alright with the right people and possibly some drugs.

[Ed I]

Hey Boris, how about Trout Unlimited? I've been a counsler at a TU fish camp for kids and helped on some restoration projects. Might be fun for you.

[El Diablo]

Aces,

I think it sorta has to do with helping people who otherwise wouldn't have anyone to help them. I'm not sure if that's completely it, but it's something like that. It's also related to how much what you do is appreciated. I'll think on this more and hopefully come back with a better answer, but I'm not sure I really know. I just know some things feel more fulfilling to me than others, but it's very hard to quantify.

[Boris]

Holy hell! El Diablo starts a forum and Ed I shows up! We were worried about ya.

[jbrent33]

El D,
I saw that you mentioned Glide Church in your OP. I have looked at the webpage and was very impressed with all they do. Do you have any personal experiences about the place you would share?

A few people from my church are going there to observe some of the programs they have in place, to see what we could apply in our own community outreach. I have been invited and will be going if it works out schedule wise.

My family has always gone to Highlands UMC I'm not particulary religious, but enjoy going to church in the dowtown, historic building. After much prodding from my mother, I started going to help feed the homeless in the morning.

Highlands has a very active community ministry, feeding 60-100 homeless or otherwise disposessed people every morning. While the people are there for the food, they are given clothes and any hygene products they need.

The church has a program where once a week the indigent could sign up for a trip to the DMV, and the the church would pay for them to get a state issued ID. This is a big step to help getting these people back on their feet.

I have never really volunteered for anything on any kind of consistent basis before. I am a fairly narcissistic person, but doing this has truly changed the way I feel about myself, as well as the way I look at others. "Getting my hands dirty" so to speak, has been much more fulfilling that writing a check.

Another upside to this is that almost all the other volunteers are retired older ladies or serious Milfs, they all think its great that a young (32) guy like myself would help out. I have met several women as a direct result.

[El Diablo]

j,

I can't really speak to the religious side of things there. In terms of community focused stuff, they have tons of programs that are just great and everyone I've met associated with the program has been top notch. Nothing but positive reviews from me. Good luck learning from their model, sounds like a great idea.

[mrkilla]

I used to be a Volunteer Fireman. I enjoyed it very much. I wish I could still do it however NYC has all paid dept.

When I move in a few months back to the burbs it will be one of the first things I look into.


I know it's not like handing out soup but it still giving back [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I guess I was sort of risking my life for free...

[disjunction]

One remarkable thing about volunteer organizations is how similar their day-to-day stuff is to everywhere else.

There are people that are volunteer regulars, especially the chicks, and they are saints but not angels, they are so grounded. Typical conversation afterwards:

"Did you hear what she said? How rude was that?"

"That person is utterly incompetent. She's always in my way".

"Today was a nightmare."

Stuff like that. These people give up so much of their time and do something that has become work for them. I both admire them but also it's sad that volunteer organizations don't take place under blue skies with daisies and meadows. I don't know if this is a happy or sad thought, so I guess I just call it "remarkable".

[FluffyTiger]

don't have much time right now to type but I just finished up some volunteering in rural Zambia, it was off the hizzle. Don't even know what country I'll be in in 24 hours kinda busy now, but I'll be back home in a month or so so look out for a trip report then (btw hiking up kilimanjaro in a week sup holla).

Shall I bump this thread with linky to trip report even?