Wasn't very happy with how my 2013 went (mostly out of my control), so I've been looking into a few things to make my life/myself "better" for 2014. One of the things I want to focus on is doing more volunteer work. I've frequently volunteered for work-related initiatives (Habitat for Humanity, Capital Area Food Bank, etc.), and I've had a lot of fun, but I've rarely taken any initiatives personally. Don't want that to be the case any longer. I'm wondering if you guys had any good/favorite volunteer opportunities to recommend. Naturally, there are TONS of opportunities out there (all for very worthy causes), and I'm a little overwhelmed. Of course, I'll just look for the ones that seem most fun/dear to me, try them out, and go from there, but I'd love some recommendations/comments if anyone has them. I'm talking about 1-2 hours a week (if not more). Might try small commitments early on (just to make sure I'm serious about this), but definitely fine with bigger commitments over time. FWIW, I live in the Austin, TX area. I'm open to all sorts of opportunities, although I'm a little partial to mentoring/tutoring/educational type stuff. I'm quite passionate about education, and trying to teach young adults/kids about science, critical thinking, technology, history, the importance of corner 3s, etc. Specifically, I've looked into organizations like Big Brother/Big Sister, Boys & Girls Club, Junior Achievement, American YouthWorks, and CASA to name a few (those are the kinds of things I'm thinking about, though I've also looked into "simpler" programs like tutoring kids after school, or teaching adults how to use computers). If anyone has any comments about those specifically (or similar programs I might have missed), I'd greatly appreciate it. Would prefer to avoid faith-based programs, although that can depend on the program (the organizers I worked with for Habitat for Humanity seemed to make the activity relatively secular). Of course, this thread doesn't have to be all about me, so still feel free to recommend opportunities for others even if it doesn't fit what I want. Thanks in advance. If this goes well, maybe I won't be posting so much about PS4/XBO sales and tech specs.
I do a lot of volunteer work for SNAP, Lonestar Boxer Rescue, Houston SPCA (You would have to go through training for the animals and facilities) and for BARC. I'm an animal lover and this "work" is not work to me at all. I thoroughly enjoy it, but I have an attachment issue. I love it when the animals find homes but I become so attached that sometimes it makes LonghornFans heart ache a lil' bit. BTW- Good on you. We need more people like this in the world.
I'm also in Austin looking for volunteer opportunities, just don't know how it works or where to start from
Damn, you're just a full blown stud, man. You should get one of those Iron Man suits to fly around in.
I wear booties over my shoes when I clean out the kennels, so that's kind of a costume, 13-2-3rd place.
I would love volunteering with animals, although I fear I might have those same attachment issues. My dog's daycare rescued a puppy recently, and they were looking for a permanent home for him...I was tempted, but can't really handle multiple dogs at this point. When I adopted my current dog, it came after a few attempts of trying to adopt some extremely shy/anxious dogs. I actually took to them quite well (which was a bit of a surprise IIRC, especially for one of the dogs), but I just couldn't quite offer them the amount of attention they needed in a home (they would be very needy, especially early on in the transition). I felt really bad since they were really good dogs, and I really wanted to help them out. IIRC, one of the dogs was raised in a "dog pack" for most of his life (little to no human interaction), and he almost didn't survive. I have a lot of respect and admiration for the people who work with these animals and are able to get them into somewhat normal "pet lives," despite the trauma they've endured.
Any other suggestions/comments? I was hoping we had a few more volunteers here (unless they're all busy volunteering right now!).
I volunteer with Ronald McDonald House as often as I can. My son was in the PICU at Memorial Children's for 2 months with a rare disease when he was 6 months old, and spent almost 2 weeks in a coma. He is now almost 4 and you would never know anything was ever wrong with him. RMH stocks kitchens in many of these units with food, entertainment and games for families of sick kids and is always looking for help.
Since you're in IT, look out for volunteer ops in Austin that help tutor and mentor women and the economically challenged in programming and computer proficiency. There's quite a few in Sili Valley, and the interest is strong from both people and employers. I haven't truly lived in Austin proper for a while now, but if they aren't available there, you could start up a drive to make it happen. Silicon Hills is totally growing with big companies and there's meetup potential there. It's win win for enriching people's lives and increasing visibility.
I posted awhile ago that I am volunteering with Architecture for Humanity currently working on Typhoon Haiyan. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=247673&highlight=tacloban At the moment we don't have a specific volunteer opportunity unless you are interested in traveling to the Philippines but am still hoping to motivate Clutchfans to maybe get a B-ball court rebuilt / built. Haven't forgotten about posting pics from the area and will do so when I get some time when I get back to the US.
I volunteer with a local church group. they have a once a month rotation cooking a huge breakfast at P.A.T.H. (People Assisting the Homeless) and I usually sign up once a year. they split up the groups between the men and the women/children so I end up playing piano with some of the residents in the men's rec room while my wife is down with the women and kids. the organization I work for is always accepting volunteers. we are in the heart of LA and provide after school activities to underserved kids in the community. it's hard to organize volunteers and get them on a regular committed schedule.
Like Hammer755, I say Ronald McDonald House. But really, there's no bad volunteering. You'll be doing good no matter what. Lay off the parentheses though (it makes long posts hard to read).
Two organizations I've worked with in Austin: Austin Partners in Education: http://www.austinpartners.org/ You can do mentoring/tutoring, or be a "classroom coach" which involves going to a class once a week. They get lots of coaches to come in and you work with the same few kids one lesson per week so they get more individual attention. You pick the subject/time, so you have some flexibility to work within your schedule. And then if you want to do education/mentoring for adults, Foundation Communities ( http://www.foundcom.org/ ) has a financial coaching program that you can work on-one-on with people trying to get their finances in order.
Thanks, this is pretty much exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Thanks to everyone else for the other suggestions as well (I'll be trying a variety of things, along with opportunities like the above).
