If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
What if, instead of counting students' service hours, we asked them to step up and solve problems? Most people see students as learners. At The Campus Kitchens Project, we view them as our teachers.
There have been many articles written about the voluntourism industry in recent years. Often authors aggressively attack the idea. But what we keep finding however, is that few of these articles give practical ideas to passionate young people who want to make a difference.
More than ever before parents are considering jumping in on the fast growing "voluntourism" trend. Today when many parents are concerned about raising "socially conscious" children, it's a perfect way to benefit others while also shifting perspective from their own lives.
Year-round projects coordinated by New York Cares that volunteers can get involved with include job readiness, tutoring and reading via local community centers, libraries and social service agencies.
In Greece,volunteering is traditionally expressed through family, local community and the church. Now there are more people engaging in community service through civil society groups responding to critical issues, including health, social services, employment and more.
For some women, it is shelter. For other women, it is a support network. But, the National Advocacy & Training Network (NATN) is for everyone, a place...
Volunteerism is win-win. It always has been, and it always will be. But for brides and grooms preparing for their upcoming nuptials, volunteering can also be a welcome source of much-needed peace during wedding preparations.
For most orphaned African children, angels are very real people. They experience brief encounters with them- people who come in and out of their orphanages, their squatter camps and their lives -- and for very fleeting moments they stay.
April 21 is the inaugural 9/11 Memorial 5K Run/Walk and Family Day, an event to encourage public service and support of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
I think it is time to admit it: I'm nearly a professional volunteer. I haven't always been. For a long time I managed my impulse toward service in a way that allowed me to keep my normal life pragmatically rolling along steady, even occasionally service-oriented.
I believe that everyone has the capacity to have a positive impact in their community. It may be as simple as offering a meal to someone who is hungry, teaching someone a new skill, or solving a problem that has perplexed society. I believe that your pet can be socially responsible as well.
There are serious logistics involved when your children are in school. What with the lunches and the clothes and the papers and the pickups and the drop-offs and the homework and the social and extracurricular activities and the vacation schedules (not to mention the volunteering)...
When you volunteer with children, you never know what to expect. Lester Strong, CEO of Experience Corps, is a shining example.
Last week, as a student at Montclair Elementary in Charlotte watched 200 volunteers painting, building and landscaping at his school, he said just one word: "Awesome." I couldn't agree more.
We love the idea of raising our children to give back, but many of us find it hard to build volunteerism into our busy day-to-day lives.
We all know that there-are-kids-starving-in-fill-in-the-blank isn't really effective when trying to get your kids to finish their dinner. Same is true with volunteer work.
