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I don't support religious groups or their causes no matter how noble they might seem. This is from Wikipedia:
The beliefs of the Salvation Army rest upon these eleven doctrines:[SIZE=2][21][/SIZE]
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that only they constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.
We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.
We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the divine and human natures are united, so that he is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocence, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has, by his suffering and death, made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever believeth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah will may be saved.
We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to salvation.
We believe that we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.
We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.
Some years ago when I was living alone after a divorce, I got involved with a food distribution non-profit called S.H.A.R.E. I don't remember what the acronym stood for. It was purportedly run by the Society of Friends (Quakers). The idea was that you paid some small amount -- like $12 -- in advance, then the pooled funds were used to make wholesale buys of foodstuffs. You were also asked to volunteer a certain number of hours a month to help keep the operation running.
I always volunteered on distribution day, making up boxes of food to hand out. I liked it because no one was on a power trip. Plus you got a variety of foods.
Unfortunately I moved away when I bought my condo and lost track of the people. I would like to do it again but it seems the program no longer exists.
On the Salvation Army, my first out of college job was as a caseworker and in the direst of circumstances I could always count on the SA to come through with at least clean and safe shelter and food for my clients until I could find something better.
I'm an atheist but I support the Salvation Army. I've seen the good work they do.
Everyone says to get into volunteering when you retire.
When I do retire (HURRY DAY!) my intent is to spend it with the creatures who give so much and ask for so little...Dogs and cats....let others rage and fight against rules, laws and criminal actions. I'll happily pick up poop, clean off the pee and be paid by doggies kisses and purrs....
I'm an atheist but I support the Salvation Army. I've seen the good work they do.
I am of the same mind set. I am an atheist, I support ANY one or any group who does good. I am not anti-religion I just don't believe. I very much believe in doing good for those in need!
My last attempt at volunteering here was a Christian food bank, and I'm agnostic
...
Before that, it was the Democrat party group and I wasn't radical enough for them.
Why do you pick volunteer groups that require a certain level of commitment?
Volunteer with the homeless or something; they don't care about your political affiliation nor your religion.
Last edited by convextech; 12-15-2016 at 12:20 PM..
Everyone says to get into volunteering when you retire. But, I've had the worst luck trying volunteering. I knew I hadn't had good experiences in the past with group dynamics and politics, but there isn't much in the way of options where I live in this little town in the boonies. There are no senior bus trips or recreation department catalogues with classes I can take. And the senior center will kill you via pinochle and sit down exercises - in other words, they assume everyone has a child mentality and must be from the big band era.
My latest misadventure was with a local nonprofit that was being taken over by a small faction who were using the nonprofit for personal gain. Very much against the law (IRS, losing nonprofit 501(c)(3)status, etc.)
My knowledge in the law and dealing with bullies proved helpful, and the initial bad business deal was stopped.
But, legally, they need to report this misadventure with the IRS. Whenever a nonprofit gets in bed with a voting board member who is obviously profiting personally, once they realize the mistake, they are absolutely required under state and federal law to let them know they "may" have entered into a self-serving deal, come clean and fix the problem. The IRS doesn't want to take down small nonprofits, but if you hide this type of info, you can be in serious hot water.
So, you have probably guessed by now - they don't want to let the IRS know what happened. I was told by one board member that the IRS has bigger things to worry about, etc. And the clincher, is that the bad guys have seen that nobody is going to actually do anything to them, so they are back in force, trying to take over the association for personal gain.
So, I have told them I'm available to help them with research, which I'm good at, but I otherwise will leave them to deal or not with their problems. But, I can't be involved in decisions to hide required info from the IRS and the state.
They were thrilled to have me stop the bad guys by exposing they were breaking the law, but now they just want everything to go back to the way it was before the bad guys came along, and just pretend nothing bad ever happened, and not do anything to prevent it in the future - as in write clear bylaws, or educate board members so they will not vote for self-serving deals in the future. I was told educating the board would be too expensive. Like IRS fines won't be? Or losing their 501(c)(3) status won't be more expensive??? And the deal I found to educate the board would have cost a total of $250. Crazy. Anyway, one week I was called an "angel" and a week later, when I told them they need to report this to the IRS, they are happy for me to go away.
Argh!!! I guess it's kind of funny in a pathetic kind of way.
Mainly just venting here. But, also letting people know that if you are thinking volunteering will be all sunshine and flowers - think again!
My last attempt at volunteering here was a Christian food bank, and I'm agnostic, but respectful of other people's beliefs. I was delivering food to the foodbank from a local restaurant, and a woman at the foodbank decided she'd been told by God to save my soul. She stalked me relentlessly, and no amount of nicely asking her to leave me be would work.
Before that, it was the Democrat party group and I wasn't radical enough for them.
Anyway, I give up. Just beware that if you are hoping or expecting volunteering to fill any void or give you happiness, etc., in retirement, beware that it may be all drama, politics and gossip.
Bummer! Anyway, feel free to share your volunteer stories.
Try animal rescue groups.
I will never be able to retire but if I could thats where I.d spend my time. That, and attend trials of animal abusers.
Just an idea. I don.t play well in the sandbox when other people bring their power trips and baggage to the volunteer arena but at least with animals theyll appreciate a clean cage and fresh water and food.
This is almost getting embarrassing, but I also tried this. There is a woman in that group who is not the official leader, but she is most definitely the leader by bullying everyone.
I was doing my best to ignore her, and then one day she turned to me and completely humiliated me at a public event. We all had these emergency vests that we wore at public events, and which would also be worn by us if there was a disaster and we'd go rescue animals. I'd been keeping the vest they'd given me in a special bag I had for everything related to this volunteer group.
So, as I'm packing my vest away as we're tearing down our booth (still lots of people all around), she loudly says to give her the vest because the local director of emergency services doesn't want them just out there in public where anyone could get it. What the heck? I'd been putting on and packing up that vest for months since they'd given it to me. Did she think I was going to go out dressed like an emergency dog rescue person and commit acts of terrorism?
That group also just treated me like a minion, would go off as a group to eat lunch and leave me to man the booth - obviously, they asked for new volunteers, but didn't really want them.
Someone else mentioned offering to give tours as a newcomer to a small town. I think that's the deal here, too. In fact in this latest misadventure, I kept hearing one woman saying over and over, "This is a small town." And saying how everyone just needs to get along because we'll all be running into each other at Walmart. Which, of course, is how the bad guys were able to take over this group. While the hens were being polite and trying to compromise on everything, the bad guys were just running ramshod over them.
Delivering the food to the foodbank seemed like an easy one - I just used my truck to deliver the food to the foodbank and didn't engage in much conversation, but even there, that one woman wrecked it.
I also went to a local history group here to one of their presentations, thinking maybe that would be an interesting group to join as I like history. But, they didn't make me welcome either. I think the problem there was they were all couples, and I'm single.
I miss just taking classes and joining bus trips. I did have fun selling my crafts at the local holiday fair, so that might work for me. I can socialize at the market, but not be in any type of organized group.
But, I'm starting to think I'm going to have to move back to civilization after all.
Thanks so much everyone for your great posts and ideas. I repped everyone I could.
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