Use Your Computer
Use Your Community
The Internet has opened up a wealth of opportunities for giving. Americans spend a lot of time in front of a screen and it doesn’t take much to find ways that will benefit charities. Causes get cash when you click your mouse at Care2.com. By simply using GoodSearch.com to surf the web, you can earn money for charities. Play games, or in this case, take a vocabulary test at FreeRice.com and earn grains of rice for the UN World Food Program. Social marketing through Facebook and Twitter is bringing people together for causes large and small. Are you staying informed about what’s important to you?
Great things can be accomplished when people work together toward a common goal. If you have a passion for something, get out and talk to others about it. Some ideas are creating a recycling initiative, encouraging others to buy local, organizing a carpool or raising energy and water awareness. Take on serious issues like drug abuse, bullying, teenage drinking and smoking, elder abuse, animal abuse or disaster preparedness. Find an agency working on your cause and enlist others to get involved. Take a stand for something!
A more active way to be involved is by signing up to receive e-newsletters or advocacy bulletins from your favorite causes and charities. Many organizations need support in the way of letters, calls and e-mails to lawmakers about important topics. In order for change to happen, decision makers MUST hear from their constituents. So even if you don’t respond to a specific request, you can contact your representatives at any time about any issue. It’s not a matter of who will do it. It’s a matter of when will YOU do it and why.
Use Your Talents Talents, skills, knowledge and experience are valuable to charities and causes. If you can do something, then money is saved that can be used for something else and organizations rely upon volunteers to do just that. Volunteer to be a receptionist, help with accounting, take pictures, cuddle babies or animals or clean up the landscaping. You can also tap into your hobbies. Like to knit or sew? Knit newborn caps that can save babies around the world. (WarmupAmerica.org) Or knit baby blankets that are sent to deployed military dads before the baby is born to capture their scent. (Blanketsfordeployeddaddies.com) Hairdressers can spruce up the homeless or volunteer at an event. Athletically-inclined can coach youth in sports or fitness. Lawyers can volunteer with legal. And the list goes on. What can you do?
Use Your Belongings Countless items in your home can be donated and put to good use by someone else or sold for needed funds. The Tampa Bay area has numerous thrift stores like the Clearwater-Dunedin Junior League Thrift store on Alt. 19 in Dunedin. Clothes to Kids in Clearwater does just that: free clothes to kids in need. Go to DressforSuccess.org to find the Tampa Bay affiliate information and donate women’s work clothing to help aspiring women. Foster care agencies need suitcases, duffel bags and backpacks for children. (Suitcasesforkids.org) Even breast pumps can go to someone who needs it. (gotbreastpump.com)
Use Your Decisions You can make the world a better place simply by choosing to do or not do certain actions. By observing the speed limit you are reducing air pollution. By not wasting water at the tap, you are conserving a precious resource. By sharing a kind word or smile to a stranger, you are making a positive difference. Some of your most important decisions have to do with spending your money. Businesses listen to consumers. So as a customer you have a right to ask for healthier food options, reduced toxic chemicals in products, environmentally-friendly packaging, no animal testing and fair trade practices. Vote with your dollars.
Use Your Awareness Don’t just listen to what others are doing, open your mind to really understand the issues and learn how you can get involved. Start a Facebook group, get a bumper sticker, put a sign in your yard and tell your friends and family. Transform awareness into change.
While expecting her first child, Nicole Bouchard Boles sat crying at news stories that involved children and had a deep stirring to do something. She researched easy, cash-free and time-flexible ways that she could help. Her research led to this book and a lifestyle that includes giving something back nearly every day. Portions of her book were used with permission for this article. Editor Pamela Ray contributed. How to be an Everyday Philanthropist is published by Workman Publishing Company, Inc. of New York.
GoodLiving /Volume II, Issue I
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