Volunteering

[sexypanda]

Throughout college, I volunteered at an inner-city school in Harlem every week. It was a very rewarding experience, I definitely recommend it. Alot of those kids grew up in single parent homes, or with relatives and didn't really have a role model, or anyone telling them how important school was. At the same time, I was able to relate to them on a more social level, which I think helped. It's definitely a good feeling, being able to positively affect kids futures who are less fortunate than us. It's also fun and doesn't seem like "work" like many other volunteer jobs. I volunteered at a hospital in high school and it was one of the worst experiences.

[scrub]

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Read "You Shall Know Our Velocity."

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Ni han.

scrub

[Ulysses]

OK, Bruiser. That is a good post. You are still off my go broke list.

Places I've volunteered at that I've enjoyed a lot:

Habitat for Humanity - you build houses for underprivileged people.

Food Banks - sort, package donated food that will go to the hungry.

Family Shelters - These are places where homeless families stay while trying to get their lives together. Tutoring, playing w/ kids to give parents some free time, etc.

Kid's Shelters - These are places where abused kids taken from their families stay. Similar volunteer stuff as family shelter.

Volunteer things I am ambivalent about

Tutoring - with some kids I like this, with others I get a little frustrated. I'm not really into adult tutoring.

Serving meals - at a soup kitchen or church or something. I dunno, kinda whatever for me.

Nature stuff (planting trees, cleaning up beaches, etc.) - I find these not so personally fulfilling, but there are often very cute girls at these.

Volunteer things I am not personally into

Regular shelters (single homeless people)
Hospitals (sick people)
Nursing homes (elderly)
Special Olympics

I find volunteering at these places to be a little depressing. Others I know find these places to be the most fulfilling.

--

Volunteering helps give you a great perspective on life that you might not get otherwise. It's also often a good place to meet cool chicks.

I'm not sure how best to get involved internationally. Going to a large NGO (non-governmental organization) like the Red Cross might be a good start as far as a place to ask where good volunteer opportunities are.

In the US, a lot of cities have something like Hands On that coordinates lots of different volunteer projects.

Here's a similar-looking organization, Boston Cares.

A Google search on "<city> volunteering" will get you lots of info.

[GuyOnTilt]

Hey Bruiser,

Volunteer work is seriously an amazingly rewarding experience. I can't really help you out with figuring out how to go about getting in contact with the right people, as all the times I've done it I've been set up by someone I know. But if you're looking for encouragement or a final nudge to actually commit to it, then I'll tell you it's definitely worth doing. I did some stuff down in Guatemala and Mexico and both times it was just an amazing and perspective-gaining experience. The fact that you're thinking about stuff like this now is really cool, btw. Hope everything continues to go well for you.

GoT

[turnipmonster]

usually with habitat for humanity they have periodic meetings where everyone shows up and gets an orientation, etc. you fill out a sheet saying what hours/days you are available, and then they place you at a site.

they take volunteers with no skill at all, but they really value skilled workers, so if you have a trade skill they generally put you in charge of a group of people immediately.

--turnipmonster

[TBag]

I would like to do some work with Habitat, but what if you're nearly worthless with a hammer? I would like to put some more hours towards my handy-man experience, as that is a very valuable life skill IMO, but I think I might feel guilty letting people live in a house that I put together =P. And I'm pretty sure they don't need to write a C program that will help them build a house...

Anyways, I guess my question is what kinda work would I be expecting if I volunteered there? Could someone give me a daily schedule of someone working in such a place?

Also Diablo, I'm interested in that food packaging program you mentioned in your "things I like" category. Where can I find more info on that?

[DcifrThs]

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I've been backacking in New Zealand the last few weeks but quite aimlessly and I haven't really done much. One thing that has struck me though is how well off I am in terms of money. Almost everyone else backpaking that I have met is on a tight budget.

Like on girl a couple days ago told me she has been in New Zealand 4 months and hasn't eaten in a restaurant once. Or anoter girl from Israel who came here for a 6 month trip with about 5k and she bought a car when she ot here with a friend for 1k and it broke down immeadiately which was really a lot of money for her to lose and she cried. Or on the airplane someone from Columbia who had friends who were married I forget how much they made per year but right out of college it was $6,000 or $12,000 and they both worked for 3 years saving everything they had to go on a vacation.

I'm going to Europe soon for some poker touranments but will stay there after those are done, and given the fact that I am aimless and given the fact that there are poor people that I feel sorry for and want to help if I can I'd like to try volunteering. What experiences have people had who have voluntered? What sort of volunteering can I do and how should I go about this, any ideas?

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i had very similar experiences travelling abroad. in turn, one summer i did the whole summer in costa rica.

i volunteered at the monteverde research center in the rain forest for 2 weeks. did trail work on mt. chirripo for 2 weeks. and then for 4 weeks our group lived in a very poor villiage and provided free labor while living with the families there. they were so nice and appreciative for our help. we laid a concrete foundation for them and constructed quite large signs to post on the highway and dirt road that lead to the tiny town of San Vicente so that they could sell their beautiful pottery...

clearly, this is more of a specialized thing. so in general, helping those less fortunate with either day to day living things, or something like that will do wonders for them...

i wish i could give you more specific information. but i hope that'll give you some ideas...

-Barron

[sublime]

Like on girl a couple days ago told me she has been in New Zealand 4 months and hasn't eaten in a restaurant once. Or anoter girl from Israel who came here for a 6 month trip with about 5k and she bought a car when she ot here with a friend for 1k and it broke down immeadiately which was really a lot of money for her to lose and she cried.

dude, you better be getting laid.

btw, on a serious note. you seem like a good person, and i mean that.

[turnipmonster]

it really depends on what stage of the house they're in, and it totally doesn't matter if you don't have skills. generally you're going to be doing things like stapling up insulation, nailing in trim, hanging doors, and painting. as you volunteer more and get more experience you can do different things, like some carpentry and maybe some framing or sheetrocking depending on the project (oh boy! drywalling!).

--turnipmonster

[Ulysses]

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Also Diablo, I'm interested in that food packaging program you mentioned in your "things I like" category. Where can I find more info on that?

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If you live in a city of any size, there'll be a dedicated Food Bank. Also, churches and other groups run smaller food banks in both large and small communities.