Tag Archives: Volunteering

Ways You Can Contribute to Scientific Research

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Want to do something with your spare time that can help others? Get involved in a “citizen science project”. You don’t need a degree in science (or anything else) in order to participate. Consider contributing to any of the following projects. It has been said that volunteering is good for you. People who volunteer their time and energy to help others experience some benefits themselves. Volunteering is a great way to boost self confidence, to fight depression, and to stay physically healthy. It is also a great way to make new friends. The following science projects need people to help … Continue reading →

The Animal Lover’s Alternatives to Owning Pets

Even though the Humane Society’s official Be Kind to Animals week has ended, around here on the Pets blog the theme’s always Be Kind to Animals. In that spirit, I want to carry on a thread I started in my last article: what if you want pets, but aren’t able to have them? Let’s say you or a family member is allergic, or you don’t have the space, money, or time at the moment. If you’re an animal lover who doesn’t have any animals to love, I have one word for you: volunteer. Look up your local shelter or rescue. … Continue reading →

Volunteering – Time For Yourself While Helping Others

For the past seven years I’ve been a work at home mom. I love the flexibility it offers since I can start and stop any time I please, take vacations, and not have a boss breathing down my neck. Well, to be honest, I’m the worst boss ever. I tend to push myself too hard and since I do work from home, all I think about when I’m at home is work. Whether I’m online writing articles, counseling a client, doing a movie review, or cooking and cleaning when I’m offline, I always tend to work. Since my kids are … Continue reading →

Volunteering When You Have Other Children

Schools usually need a lot of volunteers throughout the year. There are many activities, programs, lessons and fundraisers that require parental help. And being a parent who volunteers helps you get to know what the school environment is like. You will also meet other parents, teachers and staff through volunteering. Increasingly though, it is becoming the norm for schools to ban any children from school property if they are not students. Our school used to be open to having siblings visit the classroom, but these days they are not even allowed during official visiting days or even school pageants. Since … Continue reading →

Never Too Old!

Some people use age as an excuse to opt out of becoming involved and helping others. Our local paper recently ran a story about an 87 year old man, Cyril Brown. Unlike some today, his main focus has never been on earning a living and looking after his own best interests. Rather, his has been a life of helping and serving others. Currently he is a volunteer who delivers for Meals on Wheels. Ironically, he is older than some of the people he is delivering meals too. When not delivering meals, he spends his time doing other odd jobs to … Continue reading →

5 Tips for Combating Loneliness

If you’re struggling with loneliness what can you do about it? Here are 5 tips for combating loneliness. Join a church if you don’t already belong to one. If you do and you’re not making good friends there, then maybe you ought to start looking for another spiritual home where people are actively trying to live out the Christian life and that means connecting with others and putting ourselves out for others. Don’t just go along to church on Sundays but become involved – join a bible study group? There you will get to know people in a more relaxed … Continue reading →

Ideas for Volunteering with a Toddler or Preschooler

Making the time to do good works is important for all families. Getting children started early with the concept of volunteerism is a wonderful way to make the acts so much a part of their lives that it comes natural for them. One of the added benefits of volunteering with your toddler or preschooler is that it may give you the means and motivation to volunteer yourself. Isn’t it difficult to carve out the time to volunteer when you are busy taking care of little ones. Making volunteering a family affair solves that problem! So how can you get started? … Continue reading →

When a Single Parent Volunteers

Maybe you have read the words “single parent” and “volunteer” and are wondering how in the world a busy single parent finds time to do volunteer work too! Or, perhaps, you have your own tales of how you wish you could volunteer more, or you have been snubbed by the alpha-parents at your child’s school because you are working and taking care of family business instead of baking cupcakes or doing playground duty. The fact is, single parents can and do volunteer, we just need to find the right opportunities that mesh with the rest of our lives. I doubt … Continue reading →

Why You Should Get Involved (And Where?)

We’ve talked about volunteering and networking here in the Home Business blog, but I think that many of us have a tendency to isolate and work away solo in our small, home businesses. We forget how important it can be to get involved in our communities or even know where we can go to get involved. The truth is, involvement can really benefit our business efforts, as well as give our lives more of a sense of balance. Whether you get involved on a neighborhood or community level, or on a larger scale with your city or region—involvement gives you … Continue reading →

More Ways to Help Foster Children

In a recent blog,I wrote about helping foster kids prepare for life after they turn 18, when they will likely lose their outside support systems—both financial and emotional. In the next blog I wrote about how you might help by tutoring, mentoring, serving as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer, becoming a foster parent or adopting an older child. This blog will discuss a few more ways to help foster children. First, there’s my fellow blogger Kori’s great idea on donating your kids’ old things to the foster care system. This seems to me to be an especially good idea … Continue reading →