If You Volunteer, What Do You Actually Do? (divorce, communities, friend)
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I've also taken in several homeless and stray dogs.
I've had them spayed and neutered. It is a lot of work and expensive too. I have finally hit my physical limit with that so no more. I will just help in other ways in that area.
I've also taken in several homeless and stray dogs.
I've had them spayed and neutered. It is a lot of work and expensive too. I have finally hit my physical limit with that so no more. I will just help in other ways in that area.
I've done that too, and found homes for them. But then one dog, a Dalmatian who had stayed in my house with my dogs for a few months with no problems, bit his new owner and I worred about getting sued. So I dont do private adoptions anymore.
And, while I'd love to continue paying for neutering, I adopt older dogs and they always have medical bills -- so I've had to stop paying for stray dogs' neuterings.
When people are admitted to hospice and don't have any family/friends to visit them, I will go visit with them. I try to make them comfortable, pain-free, and if possible, create a little bit of happiness. I buy them a favorite, comfort thing that they need/want, or a favorite thing to eat. And I let them tell all the stories. And then I come back and follow them until they pass.
And if someone is suddenly dying and admitted to the hospital in hospice, and family is still out of town, I will go visit them so they are not alone. I hold their hand, I play their favorite music on my iPad, I tell them their family is coming.
It makes a difference. Not everyone can handle it though.
Ten years ago we began picking up donations from grocery stores for our local food pantry. First we contacted the food pantry and volunteered with organizing and distributing the donations. Then when one of the drivers dropped out, we started using our truck to pick up the donations from the grocery stores. During the ten years, we saw more and more elderly people seeking food from the pantry.
I've also taken in several homeless and stray dogs.
I've had them spayed and neutered. It is a lot of work and expensive too. I have finally hit my physical limit with that so no more. I will just help in other ways in that area.
It is very rewarding. My pets can be a pain but I love them.
What I hope I have accomplished is get more people involved in this. I have with my family and friends. They never thought of spaying or neutering before, but now everyone I know does this. We have free programs that help with this and I've been able to get them to take their pets to have the procedures done.
When people are admitted to hospice and don't have any family/friends to visit them, I will go visit with them. I try to make them comfortable, pain-free, and if possible, create a little bit of happiness. I buy them a favorite, comfort thing that they need/want, or a favorite thing to eat. And I let them tell all the stories. And then I come back and follow them until they pass.
And if someone is suddenly dying and admitted to the hospital in hospice, and family is still out of town, I will go visit them so they are not alone. I hold their hand, I play their favorite music on my iPad, I tell them their family is coming.
It makes a difference. Not everyone can handle it though.
I need to get back to help our local nursing home.
When people are admitted to hospice and don't have any family/friends to visit them, I will go visit with them. I try to make them comfortable, pain-free, and if possible, create a little bit of happiness. I buy them a favorite, comfort thing that they need/want, or a favorite thing to eat. And I let them tell all the stories. And then I come back and follow them until they pass.
And if someone is suddenly dying and admitted to the hospital in hospice, and family is still out of town, I will go visit them so they are not alone. I hold their hand, I play their favorite music on my iPad, I tell them their family is coming.
It makes a difference. Not everyone can handle it though.
Thanks so much for doing this. The hospice volunteer was so very helpful and comforting to my sister during her final months.
When I lived in Arizona, I was a member of the local Sheriff's Posse. The primary function of that group was to be the eyes and ears of the Sheriff's Office. This was in a retirement community of 29,000 residents. It was rewarding when we were able to find and help someone, often a person living alone and help them, or get help for them in a distress situation. The Posse did not do traffic enforcement, that was the job of the paid Deputies.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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been volunteering for many decades:
preferences depend on your purpose and what you enjoy.
for me (Order of enjoyment / satisfaction);
Hospice (not everyone can deal with this, but I really enjoy it)
Senior Services (rides and repairs)
Soup Kitchen (free friends, free meals, more appreciation for what we have)
Master Gardeners (Educational and fun / rewarding, lots of very interesting clients / staff / suppliers)
Music (love to learn new music and do small gigs with small groups)
Public Schools.. (they (kids) really need the HELP... $43/ day of property taxes doesn't seem to cover it...)
Adult Ed: (teaching business / classes / finance / industrial arts / home construction)
SCORE / SBDC; Free business consulting - interesting but not a GREAT use of time, since entrepreneurs know every thing already anyway (and they will likely be broke (again) in 2 yrs)
Tax Prep for seniors; Fun / EZ!!!
Library reading programs (true... parents and siblings may not know how to READ to the little ones!!!)
Travel chauffeur; Taking 'shut-ins' on camping / road trips (very steep challenge, but they love it...)
International Co-op Development (businesses and infrastructure) Very fun, very painful (physically). Somewhat risky (giving people POWER / education and income...)
Ironically... 'retirement' allows me the time to enjoy stopping to help people with broken cars and flat tires. Some are REALLY stressed out over such a simple inconvenience. Very telling / so sad of how 'pressured' our society has become... Flat tires were fairly frequent and 'normal' when I was a kid! (Thank goodness, cuz my grandfather had a rural 'tire-shop' where I learned the trade )
I spend a lot of time doing 'volunteer support 'political' services' for seniors / homebound who can no longer go to County Planning / zoning meetings and want to be represented / have a chance to be 'heard' (via me presenting their arguments) Pretty much a HUGE waste of time... but important to my neighbors to feel represented.
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