Which causes do you care about? Do you volunteer?

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

Several of us dedicate some of our spare time to volunteer for a cause that we care about, whether that’s helping the elderly, cleaning up litter or working on community garden projects.

There are so many different ways we can volunteer our time to help others and protect our environment. (Personally I volunteered for a long time at a hospital radio station, where we use to go around the wards and talk to patients and get their favourite music requests. Now I go litter picking in my local area, to prevent rubbish getting into the river!)

Which causes do you care about? Do you volunteer locally?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Chastity3]

@Lizzie I am a full time nurse (going on 7 years) so helping others is what I love to do. I'm currently working on starting a soup kitchen at my church for the local community. So between taking care of patients, opening up my home to hosts travelers, and feeding those in need, my heart is full!

[Lizzie]

Aww this is wonderful @Chastity3,. It sounds like you have a big heart. 

It's great you are going to start your own soup kitchen, will the food come from donations? 

[Chastity3]

Because we are starting out. We are having our own church members cook the meals. After establishing ourselves within the community for at least 3 months, then we can qualify for partnerships with the Food Banks and other large corporations for donations. We have a vision in mind to start with the Soup Kitchen and then expand to a pantry, provide lightly used clothing (similar to a GoodWill), and toy drive for the area. We are excited to get this off the ground.

[Linda-And-Richard0]

Hi @Lizzie My husband and I are members of the San Antonio Conservation Society.  This organization works to preserve historic building, objects, places and customs relating to the history of Texas.  An annual fundraiser is held in the spring.  Night In Old San Antonio, NIOSA, is a 4 night event and a huge part of the city's annual Fiesta celebration.  Guests booking our Guest House during this event are always provided with complimentary tickets.  We also volunteer at the annual San Antonio Livestock Exposition and Rodeo. 

[Gordon0]

We (unofficially) sponsor an orphanage for HIV+ children in Caracas, Venezuela. We visit as often as we can (and times are very tricky there at the moment, so it's not easy), take all the kids a toy, make sure they get a trip to the cinema and a good dinner, as well as making a small donation to their upkeep.

While we're there (in Caracas) we also take a trip into the 'ranchos' (think barrios, and pretty scary ones at that) to treat the kids there to some food and a pop-up cinema. [I tried to upload a photo of one these, but yet another glitch means it isn't working] 

Doing this sort of stuff balances my otherwise self-centred lifestyle.

At home here in London I give tours of 'abandoned' London Underground stations.

[Gordon0]

Of course, it works only when you hit 'enter'

[Lizzie]

Aww @Gordon0, this is incredible. What an amazing cause. How did you find out about this organisation?

Do think you will be able to visit there again soon? 

I love that you give tours of abandoned tube stations, i have always wanted to go behind the scenes.. I think many years ago I watched Blue Peter (UK children's programme) and they went to an old station that is no longer in use – I think about every time I go passed the Strand station. How do I sign up?!? 🙂

[Gordon0]

My husband is Venezuelan, @Lizzie, and the orphanage is run by the catholic church he used to attend as a nipper. 

As for the tours, I'll drop you a note when I'm planning one for work buddies and you can come along. 

[Stephanie]

@Gordon0 - me too!

[Helen427]

@Gordon0 @Lizzie @Clara116 @Ria16 @Chastity3 

@Gordon0  are you involved in the clearing out od soil etc from the old Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool where Joesph Williamson was involved in the creation of?
That is one of the very first underground railway stations in the UK back in the early 1800's.

It's quite fascinating how people survived in those days & nowadays overlook what limited materials and resources people had in those times.

Did you know they used to pull trains by hand and placed rosemary branches on the tracks to have traction?

[Gordon0]

Heck no, @Helen427, I'm rarely seen outside of zone 1 in London. Liverpool is, metaphorically at least, a million miles away from here. 

I'm London Underground through-and-through (the world's oldest underground railway) and give tours of our abandoned stations, many of which closed yonks ago. I'll look the Liverpool one up tho! 

[Clara116]

@Lizzie  Very nice thread and to read about the involvement of others that are also part of this huge community Airbnb. 

Personally I think we are all probably better people or working on that when we serve others or give of our selves/time/monies or whatever we value. Everything these days esp. seems so self motivated/centered..............technology is so amazing BUT pushes that even further off the "all about me" agenda. 

My  involvement in different areas has changed over the past years. I was a volunteer and massage therapist at Hospice for over 13 yrs. and that certainly changed my world and my life, esp. understanding whats important and seeing people without anything - death and the dying process can sometimes strip a person down and/ or open doors to love, real inner beauty, grace, peace and much more. 

As I have retired my therapy work and enjoy working with kids (I was not blessed with my own) so I am now part of an organization where we mentor and help children learn to read. There are so many children that don't have the opportunity to develop their language skills so we help with all the parts that are necessary - so that its not a super struggle for them - I work to have fun, increase their language, vocabulary skills and since kids can be little sponges - it is a thrill to see how they develop. Having lived in a country with a different language - I understand how it feels to NOT understand the words written and how the world can change with that knowledge. When living in Germany before the ability to read and understand I felt very small, not very intelligent and very disconnected while living there... All things I hope to quickly help change for someone else when given the opportunity.

also, we do beach clean ups  on Saturday mornings...Pensacola has some of the most wonderful beaches in the world ........we think really nice people just don't litter!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Silvia and I were foster caring dogs from the oldest animal shelter in Zagreb, it's called Noah's ark.

We took the first dog in summer 2014 when east Croatia was hit with a severe flood and thousands of animals were drowned.

Volunteers from animal associations went there, walk through the mud and dirty water to rescue as many animals they could. All shelters were overfilled and couldn't host so many of them.

Pictures shared in the news were shocking and I wanted to go there to help but I couldn't.  Silvia was just graduating and besides, the authorities didn't allow civilians to go there for safety purposes.  So we had to help in another way.

The first dog we fostered was adopted just a week later so we took another one and another one.... 15 of them in the next 2 years 🙂 

It was so great to see the transformation from a scary and traumatized dog to a happy pet, it really makes your heart full 🙂

Here they are, all 15 of our guests  🙂 ❤️

www.bit.do/hombrehostel

[Stephanie]

What a beautiful and caring act! I'm literally cheering you from my desk right now @Branka-and-Silvia0 !!

[Nadene3]

I am actually President of my local Rotary Club and do a lot of volunteering and fundraising for local charities in the community. I also organise large local community charity  fun days. Some of the charities/projects I have been involved in helping are Haven House Children's Hospice, ELHAP (Every Life has a Purpose) adventure playground for children and young adults with special needs,  Our local Memory Café, Lola's Homeless and Streets2Homes homeless projects, Food Bank, Chigwell Riding Trust which is our local RDA and the first of its kind in the world, In Sues Name a cancer charity, Farleigh Hospice and many more.

One of my businesses is an event company and all my events also raise money for different local charities. My other businesses are to do with health and wellbeing and educating people about natural alternatives to using toxic chemical products for both health and beauty. Some of my Airbnb guests have become good clients!