In my last post about this a few people commented & emailed asking for tips on where to start, Lora asked for some baby steps, well the only thing I can suggest is following some logical steps that helped me. Very few of us are in positions where we can drop everything and run to a feeding program in Africa today or tomorrow, but we can ALL do something, actually more than something, we can all do a lot. So here are some logical steps that I used to begin the process.
1. Start with writing a list of all the things and people you have to be thankful for! This will start you on the right path, at the beginning – gratitude and thankfulness!
2. Make a list of all the things you are passionate about or have a personal involvement in – is it wildlife, pets, vulnerable children, foster care, poverty, homelessness. There are hundreds of causes and people in need, think carefully about where you feel called, prayerfully consider where you are being called.
3. Take a good look at your schedule, see where you have time. Now most of us would say we don’t have time, well I have news for you all, we have 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week. We all have the same amount of time, it is how we choose to use it! Yes, you may be in a very busy season in your life, but I would imagine out of 168 hours in a week you can find one or two, minimum! If you had a job like I did, where you have travel at a moments notice and are often away or working until late at night, focus on weekends or finding one off opportunities, just find the time and circle it.
4. Now that you know what you are passionate about and what time you have, you can set about trying to find the right opportunity. The reason I believe it is important to plan what time you have to volunteer first is, it is very easy to jump in too fast and then be overwhelmed, once you know what it is you are passionate about and the amount of time you have in this season of your life, you can commit fully to your volunteering. Some suggestions I have are:
- Becoming a mentor to a child in care (in the UK phone your local children’s services department, in the US phone your local fostering and adoption agency)
- Becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister for those in the US or Canada
- Volunteering at a farm
- Volunteering at a children’s centre, homeless shelter, food bank
- Canvas for a charity
- Sign up to walk, run or bike ride for a charity
- Become a dog walker, cat socializer or small animal holder for an animal shelter
- Contact a shelter for women & children escaping domestic abuse & violence see if you can paint, mentor, do admin
- Volunteer for a hospice
- Browse for opportunities here for the US, here for Canadians, here for Australians and here or here for those in the UK
5. Donate money – some people think you only need to give time or money, but I believe we need to do both! Giving money is a blessing, it is a sacrifice that provides so many rewards and honestly changes lives. Giving to projects both in your community and abroad is vital, it helps those less fortunate around you but also literally stops children in various countries from starving to death. People often ask me why I feel so passionate about helping people in Africa, Asia & South America and I remind them that children in those areas still die from no food & no water, yes they desperately deserve our help! If you’ve never donated to a charity before, the thought of handing over $30 a month can be staggering, but, honestly think about how much you spend on coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fizzy drinks (pop), makeup, clothes, magazines - I bet that is a lot more than $30 a month and doesn’t save lives. Very few people can jump from donating nothing to giving 10 -20% of your income, but I encourage you to give and see the blessing in it. Here are some ways to start
- Sponsor a Child – get to know about the organizations out there such as World vision (click here for UK, here for US, here for Canada and here for Australia) Compassion or Action Aid
- Think about a charity you feel passionate about, like an animal shelter or women’s shelter within your community and give a monthly donation, even just £10 or $10 a month can help out enormously!
- Keep a charity jar in your kitchen – put loose change in there, or save every pound coin or loonie or dollar bill you get, one it adds up to something significant then do something life changing with it like paying for a child to have a cleft palate surgery or giving a village a well
- Give aKiva loan (this is an absolutely fabulous way to help people all over the world directly)
6. Try to find tiny ways every single day to help. Most supermarkets have a bin where you can donate canned food to a food bank or food for an animal shelter, try buying an extra few items and donating when you shop.
7. Serve people – try making some soup, lasagnas or baked goods and think of someone you know who might be in need either financially or because they are facing a hard time, don’t forget the single people who are often overlooked and actually often don’t feel loved. Try to think about any older people you know, they are sadly often overlooked even by their own families. You don’t have to make something every day, but start with once a month taking a meal to someone in need. It will soon become habit!
8. Do something different – pick up litter, treat a friend with less money than you to a coffee out, bring someone flowers from your garden, just do little bitty things that don’t cost much but make a difference!
9. Plan for the big things – maybe you’ve always wanted to spend a week on a conservation project, or helping in an orphanage, sadly a lot of times doing these things require financing, so get planning. Start a jar, open a bank account and instead of just spending thousands on holidays or eating out, put some of that money aside for a life changing experience. Even if you put £1 a day away, in two years you could be on that amazing trip!
10. Re-think Christmas and Birthday presents – honestly we all have too much stuff. Long time readers know that I stopped shopping for a year and you know what? I can’t start again, I don’t need to. Now this is the right path for me, I’m not saying you have to do the same, but think about ethical presents and gifts, shop through world vision or the toy box charity, send a cow or a goat in someones name, buy fairtrade. Make what you spend your money on mean something!
I’ll end with this, I’m trying to make my life a testimony – a living, walking, breathing testimony of faith and what I believe. If you believe in acting against cruelty to animals don’t buy your pets from places that support puppy mills or breading instead go to animal rescue centres, if you believe everyone should have enough food then think about where you waste and ensure that instead of wasting that money you give it to a charity so that others live by having enough food, if you believe every single child has a right to a family then consider fostering or adopting. None of these things are easy, but none of them are impossible.
Since I wrote the first post I have been struggling to get this picture above by Kevin Carter out of my head, I have so many questions, why didn’t the photographer help her, why did this happen and perhaps most importantly why is it still happening? When you think of how many people cried over the death of Michael Jackson, it just saddens me that we don’t have the same response when a child dies from starvation or from no access to clean drinking water. It saddens me when people think it isn’t their problem, that we should focus on our own communities. I ask you this, if it was your child or niece or godchild starving with a vulture waiting to eat them, would you worry about who was helping or just want them to have help? Would you worry politically what country sent food or just be desperate for them to eat? I look at this and know we all have to do everything we can to stop it, we have to do hard things…
I honestly believe the hard things become easy 1 step, or in the case below, 1 shoe at a time…
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Yet another fabulous post, thank you this really helps me know how to begin!
Oh meant to ask you I would love if you did a post on your favourite recipies. Thanks!
Hey Kathryn, thank you for your kind comment! Yes, I will start sharing more of my recipes, in fact I’m posting one today!
Thank you very much FT! I didn’t expect this so soon. This post is very detailed. I will try to follow your steps; hopefully they will lead to action & not just good intentions.
Your first post inspired me to read a book about a missionary’s perspective on the situation in Sudan over the past 40 or so years. Both your blog entries & her words have been very helpful in reducing that sense of entitlement and make me really want to start doing instead of being a passive spectator.
Frugal Undergrad – Thanks! I’d love to know the name of the book?
Well, it was a small booklet that my mother brought home that was handed out after a church service, and it’s in Portuguese. I don’t think you can read Portuguese, but if you could I’d love to share.
Another amazing post…thank you for the wrenching reminders this week that we are not alone in this world.
Dear FT
Another great post with ideas that we can all try. Can I just add one thing?
A good place to start is where we are now. We need to live our existing lives in a different way, which involves slowing down and listening ( I believe, to God) and we will soon see the opportunities around us.
I am still in employment and would love to retire and spend more time working for others. But in the small group of people I work with, there are so many opportunies to give love and care, But you really have to listen and to be open to what they are really saying. And not saying.
On the wider scene, where do we start? It is so easy to be overwhelmed and feel that whatever we can do is a drop in the ocean. But we just have to do the little that we can, and hope that others will do the same.
Then the drops themselves will become an ocean. Of love.
Very true Stella – that’s why I often look around and see where I am currently and what that means for giving & serving, so important.
So true it is important to not get overwhelmed, thanks for the reminder!
Wow. Impressive and inspiring. Thank you.
Grace, thank you for your original comment, it really helped me piece this all together!
Hi there-a very heartwarming and thoughtful post my dear, very inspirational ideas to ponder on!!
Ponder and act ;0)
I’ve been spending some time recently looking into where I can volunteer, so this post comes at a great time, especially when I’ve been feeling overwhelmed at the many options out there as well as the great amount of needs that have to be met.
Good Luck Jenn it can take a while to find the right time/place but I believe you’ll get there!
inspiring stuff. I also LOVE the random acts of kindness movement. Where you just do something unexpected and kind (doh… of course it’s that!) WHat I like about it, is that it reminds people about kindness, takes them out of themselves for a moment, and that spreads the joy. Even just saying hello to people in your street is a good start. its trying to be the change you want to see in the world isn’t it.
So true Mo – random acts of kindness are wonderful!
I saw that photo last year at the Newseum in Washington DC. He committed suicide though, didn’t he – so I guess he found it difficult too.
Yes Lynn sadly he did commit suicide. A very sad situation all around, I would love to be able to speak with him.
fantastic! thankyou so much for this. it is exactly what i’ve been thinking about recently…:) xx
Glad it helped Rachel!
You are awesome! A very inspiring post. We already sponsor a child (overseas and in Australia) and do something similar to kiva with Opportunity International, but I’ve always felt that is just money. I am going to start looking for other ways to help and you’ve given so many great ways to help that don’t just involve money, thank you so much! xx
Regards
Judy in Adelaide
That’s brilliant Judy, good luck!
you have given me food for thought in this post.
Gill in Canada
I second the thing about volunteering. You never know where it might lead – I volunteered for several years teaching yoga in a locked institution – that eventually led me to wanting to train to be a social worker and the volunteer experience helped me to get a place on a highly competitive course for which I’m forever grateful but I never envisaged that that would happen when I started volunteering!
The other thing I would add is that you don’t have to make a big committment in terms of time to volunteering – I live in Canada now (I used to live in the UK) – and I’m really amazed at how many organisations here in Canada will work with what you can offer in terms of volunteer hours. So you can do a few hours here and there as and when it works for you. Obviously there are volunteer posts which demand more but you can pick and choose and I think it’s important to get that point across – that you don’t have to make a big committment in order to make a big difference – just a few hours when it works for you can be a start.
That is brilliant Angela, thanks for sharing!!
FT, I’ve lurked for a long time on your blog but this is the first time I’ve been moved to comment.
I just wanted to say that you really GET the ethical basis for frugality and explain it incredibly well. That is, one doesn’t necessarily stop spending in order to have more money, but that frugality is a moral choice, and that choice involves spreading your wealth around, and where to spread it. Your consistency and integrity are amazing.
Thanks for your wonderful blog.
Thank you for your kind comment Kate. Honestly it is so lovely to find others who understand being frugal isn’t about self! I’m glad you like the blog
Wow, I can’t even find the words! What a wonderful concept for a blog, I cannot wait to read more! Thank you! I love how you just simply live out your ideals…you’re a fabulous friend and an inspiration. In fact, you’ve inspired me to finally start up my own blog!
My friend you are welcome ;D
You are truly a good and special young woman! I admire how you live life.
Thanks Carolyn. Life is certainly not always easy, but I want to love each and every day.
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Thanks for another good post.
I had a list of things I was thankful for back when I was unemployed: http://jennannej.blogspot.com/2009/02/thankful.html
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After backtracking through all your old posts, this one caught me enough to comment. The old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, comes to mind. Suddenly everything in life comes into perspective. I am guilty of having the wants and money. I am guilty of being unhappy when things don’t go my way. Every single person with access to reading this, will probably never endure the hard life this child will face. This photo moves me to help. I have the opportunity to give so much. My church comes to mind on places to take baby steps. Our church always has so many inspirational and helpful things going on, including sponsoring children opportunities, helping the community and the homeless, and building new homes for less fortunate. Bless you for all the work you do.
Becky
Thank you for sharing and yes, we all can do so much more than we realize! Thank you for the encouragement!
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I recently found this blog and think it’s great.
It is so hard for people to get their heads round the idea that paring away the clutter that weighs us down is a very different thing than miserable deprivation.
There is enormous liberation in opting out of mainstream culture and working out what is simple habit and what actually nourishes our lives.
I think a lot of people find it threatening. I know I don’t play well when my addictions are pointed out – why did I keep buying soya ice-cream from H&B even AFTER the tonsillitis went away? Because… it was there. I’m getting better at noticing it and becoming less reactionary about it, which is a relief. Habits are tough to overcome – especially when we refuse to accept that we have any, or that we’ve been anything but 100% rational and independent in our choices. It is very hard to accept just how easily influenced we are.
I had the bizarre experience of being complimented on a new skirt and top a while ago. My parents thought I looked “really smart – and such lovely colours on you”. I said I’d been surprised when I found them, that they were just the right colour, size and fit, and at such a low price. They instantly pricked up their ears and were attentive. I said, “Under £7 from the Help The Aged shop!” Suddenly, the interest and approval were withdrawn, only to be replaced with eye-rolling and sighs. If I’d got them on sale at M&S for £25, they’d have been delighted; that I got them at a charity shop for under £7 was cause for exasperation. Same clothes, for pity’s sake, just a different mind-set.
And my parents brought me up saying things like, “There’s nothing wrong with second hand!” and “Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”.
The further out I get from the mainstream, the odder it looks, and the more chances I’m given to look at my unhealthy habits of thought and deed. So much of our lives is undigestible filler, and we have a chance to opt for healthier, tastier, more nourishing fare as our tastebuds regain their health. There are so many treats waiting for me to just get a little more over myself and find them!
BTW, may I plug the Samaritans? Local branches often really, really need people to help run fundraising (such as shops or one-off fundraising projects), do administrative work (such as accounting, secretarial work, mailing lists, branch statistics, ensuring that equipment is up to date and in good working order), and publicity. Your local branch may or may not have a Friends of [Local] Samaritans group, but they may want one to raise funds. These “support volunteers” don’t have to do the emotional support work of “listening volunteers” (though you can do both), but ALL volunteers are really appreciated – I’ve been doing support volunteering for about 18 months, and the “listening volunteers” keep talking about how support volunteers make their work possible.
Karen what an excellent comment! Thank you for taking the time to make it!