Help yourself through helping others

[capcat]

This subject came up in a word game thread and Ihate to see it get buried there. I think that volunteering your time to help others is two-fold. You do good and help yourself at the same time, especially during the down cycle in the ups and downs of life. Sometimes it's hard to know what to get involved in.Here are some ideas. I know other people have ideas too. I hope you'll add them.

Food banks are an easy one. Meals on Wheels.

A nursing home: be someone to talk to, run a comb through hair, read and discuss current eventsfrom the newspaper, take outside on the patio, be a reliable personwho visitsoften andtalks ina grown-up voice rather than "baby talk".

Use lunch hour time to be a reading mentor for a school kid.All you have to do is play a reading game with them, listen to them read abookand help them figure out words.

Participate in recording for the blind and dyslexic. You can help with language growthand comprehension by making audio recordings of books.

Become trained as a court appointed special advocate (CASA). Youplay a role inhelping to represent the child and his or her interests in court cases. This is something I would like for my husband to do to kind of transcend the daily grind. He'd be good at it.

Help with pet adoption days foran animal shelter...any opportunity tohelp another living thing. Go for it, you won't be sorry.:) All it takes is a phone call, someone will direct you to the right person to talk to.

[POEKLM]

Very good ideas. I appreciate the post.

My oldest daughter used to volunteer at an adult daycare center. She enjoyed it. I want to get my butt in gear and do something too

Thanks for the inspiration.

[bleedbluelady]

We have a young man that lives down the street from us. He has cerebral palsy and has to use a wheel chair. He volunteers at one of the local hospitals delivering mail, magazines and books to the rooms. Talk about an inspiration.

[capcat]

That is something, Gillia. I have so much respect for people like that.

Poeklm, I'm guilty of slacking off on these things even though I know thatthe busier I stay, the more energy I have. Since I'm not working traditional hours anymore, I have these gaps of time in my day. For several reasons, it would be better for mepersonallyto fill them with something positive and productive.

[PsychoCat]

If Rita hits in Texas as a cat 4 or 5 you will have even more displaced people living in your area Capcat :(I read the Austin Independent School Districtare preparingfor a total of up to 20 open shelters for Rita........ And that AISD has more than 700 Katrina evacuee children enrolled in area schools already.

There will be a HUGE need for help for these students......Id love to see our ladies forum do something like filling xmas wish lists for students....especially at the Middle, High School age.......everyone remembers the little ones and there are so many toys for tots programs, but from my experience here working with the older ones....they tend to get forgotten. We got shoe carnival to let each middle school and high school flood student pick out a free new pair of shoes....you would not believe how many of them cried during this process....it was very moving to be a part of. For the girls for xmas we did make-up bags with lotion, make-up and nail polish, hair holders etc ....

[bleedbluelady]

PsychoCat wrote: Id love to see our ladies forum do something like filling xmas wish lists for students....especially at the Middle, High School age.......everyone remembers the little ones and there are so many toys for tots programs, but from my experience here working with the older ones....they tend to get forgotten. We got shoe carnival to let each middle school and high school flood student pick out a free new pair of shoes....you would not believe how many of them cried during this process....it was very moving to be a part of. For the girls for xmas we did make-up bags with lotion, make-up and nail polish, hair holders etc ....

That's a great idea Kristen. :cool: How do we get started?

[CATHYnKY]

I'm in!

[capcat]

I'll be happy to do whatever is needed on this end. Kristen, you are so right about the older children getting left out of things. I've seen that time and again in Christmas drives. I have agood contact at McCallum High School, she's the director of the drill team and girl's soccer there and her husband is head football coach. Maybe we can have an allianceand additional funds raised through them too. I've sold a lot of breakfast tacos in my day with them!

[WildcatGirl]

My daughter and I are scheduled to go with a group from Lutheran World Relief to Mississippi in early October to help with clean up and distribution of food, water, etc. I'm really looking forward to it. Her youth director told all the youth about this opportunity on Sunday that coincides with our local fall break from school. Not sure how many are going yet, but it looks to be a pretty big group of high school kids that are interested anyway. I think it is so important to get kids involved like that...because they are the next generation of volunteers.