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Old 01-13-2018, 07:50 PM
 
Location: TUS/PDX
7,819 posts, read 4,545,588 times
Reputation: 8850

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Quote:
Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother View Post
I read newspapers out loud for the blind at the studio of my local National Public Radio station.
I volunteered for a number of years at a community radio station. My career was in television production so radio was a bit of a departure but well worthwhile. Went in with the idea of helping them convert their music library from CD's to a server based source, ended up producing public service announcements, one of which was seeking volunteers for a reading for the blind service.
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Old 01-13-2018, 10:09 PM
 
Location: annandale, va & slidell, la
9,267 posts, read 5,098,829 times
Reputation: 8471
I transport shelter animals from distant and local shelters, transport mostly cats from pet store shelter cages to foster homes to give the animals a cage-break.
Yesterday picked up a cross-state relay of three cats to an adoption agency where there was a better liklihood of finding the cats a home.
Not what I ever imagined doing, but is appreciated and gets me out of the house a few times a week.
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Old 01-13-2018, 11:46 PM
 
Location: Seattle Eastside
638 posts, read 527,587 times
Reputation: 1492
Quote:
Originally Posted by ansible90 View Post
Many of the threads here talk about volunteering as a way to feel useful, pass time, give back (hate that term), meet new people, etc. But I am curious about what people are actually doing at their volunteer gigs. What are the tasks you do? Are you cooking, serving meals, answering phones, sitting at a hospital visitor desk?

Sometimes I think about volunteering but don't want to feel like I am going to work. So please let us know what you do. It would help to know what kind of organization you volunteer at. Thanks.
I'm not retired. I'm a parent. Our PTSA desperately needs people to read with the slow readers at school. We need people to sit in the cafeteria to talk the tough kids down. We need recess monitors to tell the teachers who is running off.

I also coached soccer. I should mention that I've never played soccer. If you have played even one or two years of any sport, coaching smaller children is something that is desperately needed. That frees up the adults to coach older sports.

I also volunteer with scouts. Some retirees clear trails, clean parks and help with campsite management. We are so incredibly grateful to them! They teach the kids how to do the job. It is so inspiring to see this knowledge passed down.

Give back probably refers to people like me, who were born as mistakes and who, thanks to all the hard work society put into public schools and infrastructure, were able to build careers as makers instead of takers. So I plan to give back through taxes and volunteering because I am so grateful for what my country gave me.

Lucky those who are born into relative wealth whose parents were middle-class and landowning, whose great-grandparents didn't come over penniless after the war / from the reservation / from the plantations, who didn't need to use public parks maintained by volunteers because you had nice backyards and land, and your own pools and private schools. I guess you all are just slumming, lol. We appreciate it. We will give back.
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Old 01-13-2018, 11:56 PM
 
11,181 posts, read 10,503,755 times
Reputation: 18618
League of Women Voters, voter registration drive.
Local public library, shelving books.
Local homeless advocacy coalition, coats and blankets donations.
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Old 01-14-2018, 06:31 AM
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,175 posts, read 63,623,198 times
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I read stories to a kindergarten and do reading enrichment with a second grader. This is one day a week for a few hours. The program is through the Lions Club. If I wanted to get sucked in, I could spend a lot more time with Lions Clubs other activities (but I don’t).
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Old 01-14-2018, 07:50 AM
 
13,979 posts, read 25,889,429 times
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I volunteered at a local charity thrift store several years ago, sorting book donations and restocking shelves. Nobody wanted that job, the books are heavy, and there were always way too many of them. That led to being asked to take a part-time paid position in the store, now I'm a full time asst store mgr. But I still do volunteer work for them, I take all the jewelry donations ( way more than most people realize, it takes about 10 hours a week to do it), price the costume items and arrange the sale of the gold and silver. I have a jewelry background.
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Old 01-14-2018, 11:01 AM
 
Location: southwest TN
8,568 posts, read 18,069,299 times
Reputation: 16702
I started out dog fostering - that involves socializing dogs, doing basic manners training (housebreaking, leash training, working on sit/stay/come, crate-training). Then I adopted one of my fosters who turned out to need far more work as she was initially not adoptable due to dog-aggression. While working with her, I began transporting, helping with giving shots, meds, actually rescuing - trapping as needed, recordkeeping, handfeeding babies (kitties and puppies) and whatever else was needed. But as our menagerie grew, we saw an even bigger need that wasn't being filled - aggressive spay/neuters. So we started our own non-profit with that goal. We are in the beginning stages of fund-raising, applying for grants, and TNR work.


I still help rescues with transport, picking up a litter of puppies, taking a mom dog for spaying, giving vaccinations, worming.
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Old 01-14-2018, 01:16 PM
 
Location: Kirkland, WA (Metro Seattle)
6,031 posts, read 6,114,923 times
Reputation: 12508
Quote:
Originally Posted by ansible90 View Post
Many of the threads here talk about volunteering as a way to feel useful, pass time, give back (hate that term), meet new people, etc. But I am curious about what people are actually doing at their volunteer gigs. What are the tasks you do? Are you cooking, serving meals, answering phones, sitting at a hospital visitor desk?

Sometimes I think about volunteering but don't want to feel like I am going to work. So please let us know what you do. It would help to know what kind of organization you volunteer at. Thanks.
I've connected through one of my hobbies to a former celebrity, who is close friends with a current A-list celebrity, all in the UK. I've never met the latter guy, you'd know his name.

The former guy is friend of a friend. What's that, two degrees of separation?

The current and former celebrity have sufficient name-power to raise money for causes when they put their mind to it. One works with UNICEF in various part of Africa. Couple years ago, there was opportunity to provide some value-add (volunteering) as long as we paid our own way. Some may say "they should pay" but the reality is the charities can't really afford us and they spend more in lodging us to First World standards than the value we give back.

So, we combined it with vacation, after the volunteering. Win-Win.

I taught computers and IT. Their regular teachers were close by. Kids everywhere find IT and tech interesting, it's interesting enough to teach and hold people's attention. Lesson plans, examples of tech, ways to use it, etc. Keep focused, keep their attention, keep it light, don't go too deep or their eyes glaze over. Kids are kids, world over, as you'd imagine. These were simpler a bit poorer in resources than (most) US kids.

To get all those dots connected was a bit unusual, but if I'm going anyway to that place (or even might want to), I don't mind giving some of my own time.

That's somewhat different from, say, local giving and volunteering of course.
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Old 01-14-2018, 06:33 PM
 
Location: Florida
7,754 posts, read 6,334,569 times
Reputation: 15732
Quote:
Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post
Was that Sun City? I know MCSO has a Posse -- I'm thinking I would like to do that.
There are 57 Posses in Maricopa county, Sun City is one of them, I was in Sun City West, a couple of miles down the road.

Some Posses focus on patrolling the unincorporated communities lie the Sun Cities and others. Others are aviation, marine, mounted, jeep and others. The county is as large in land area as Massachusetts, so there is a lot of ground to cover, some of which is desert, in addition to some man-made lakes.

In the area around the Sun Cities there are about 100,000 retirees. The Posses are funded by donations, not tax money which is a huge plus for the Sheriff's Office.
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Old 01-14-2018, 06:58 PM
 
4,361 posts, read 7,046,228 times
Reputation: 5216
Our local newspaper publisher gives our hospital 100 free newspaper copies, twice a week, and I pass them out to waiting rooms, offices, and also to patient rooms on all 4 floors. I often see patients who I know, or know their relatives. Sometimes I refill their water pitchers, or give them magazines. I also volunteer in the lobby gift.shop, which raises funds for hospital projects.

I help occasionally, bagging groceries at our church's food pantry, and also talk to participants at the winter homeless shelter, which each local church rotates hosting for one week out of each winter.

I volunteered to unload and set-up,100 recliners and 100 portable dental stations, at a free Dental clinic, held over a weekend every other year, in a school gymnasium.

Help for a week each summer, repairing homes in Appalachia. It is great fun, being around the energetic teenagers and adults from various churches, sleeping in a school gymnasium, and getting to know them over meals and ice.breaker social activities. The conditions some of the homes are in, is appalling.

I sorted books at the weekly library fund-raiser sale, for a few years.

My wife and I sing in a seniors center "Show Troupe" that travels to dance and sing at 11 different nursing homes and senior centers nearby, wearing funny and colorful costumes, that change every year.

I sit and guard the Art exhibit (paintings, etc.) at our annual County Fair, and offer the visitors information about the various arts and cultural events in our County. I see and talk with many people I know.

I help split firewood at the nearby State Park, which is later sold to campers, to help support the park. Also work on a team, picking up fallen branches each Spring around the campgrounds, and feed them into a wood-chipper machine.

Last edited by slowlane3; 01-14-2018 at 07:08 PM..
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