It's National Volunteer Week in the US (and Canada?) https://ww2.pointsoflight.org/nvw
Do you volunteer? Thank you!!
Know someone who volunteers? Thank them!
Tell me about some of the volunteering you do. Let's share a little inspiration 😄
@victriviaqueen nice work!
Victoria, BC? I have friends there, and my sister lives just across the strait. I love it up there.
@jason Yes! Victoria BC. Send your friends to the tool library!
@victriviaqueen that looks super cool!
What's your volunteering story?
I'll start: I put together the monthly email newsletter for a local non-profit that gives money to people facing hard times, and I teach ESL at my neighborhood library.
@jason Erm . . . Nothing for years. *gulp* :(
@Fitzy when the time is right, I'm sure you'll find something 🙂
@jason No excuse really. Retired 3 years ago (but worked to my 71st year). Will get there.
@jason I do ESL/adult literacy tutoring one evening a week through an org that works mainly with immigrant women ... a few other less regular things, too.
@emily very cool! The ESL stuff has been really eye opening for me and more rewarding than I’d anticipated.
@jason Ditto. It helps me keep things in perspective, I've built some wonderful friendships, and more than anything it's just amazing to work alongside people who are learning things that will change their lives for the better.
@jason Ah you rock!
Before college I volunteered at the Seattle aquarium taking care of the pacific sound reef exhibits. I also "adopted" a couple hiking trails and picked up trash/maintained them for fun on the weekends.
I kinda miss doing that stuff... Now the only volunteering I do is through united way helping out at events.
@kalaunu you rock, too! I also volunteer at events, mostly local tech events so I can get a free ticket 😉
@jason I deliver papers for a small community newspaper (hyperfocused on two inner city neighbourhoods and staffed almost entirely by volunteers). I also recently put my name forward to serve on a community league board, but haven't yet heard if I got the position (I was unable to attend the AGM due to a prior commitment, so I have no idea if I was elected).
@jason I started volunteering to provide event first aid (first aid at e.g. football matches, marathons etc. etc.) last year and it's been really fun! Got to see lots of events from behind the scenes. In most cases though you only see the person you help once.
@verityvirtue that sounds really cool!
@jason It is now 6 years ago, I went twice to Tohoku region, the place hit severely by tsunami and earthquake in March 11 2011 and helped to clean up roads and town.
@jason my most recent volunteer is giving regularly knitting lesson to a person who is deaf.
@indigo6 those are both really great ways to make a community better 🙂
@jason I hope so. 😊
@jason sometimes I do Food Not Bombs. I help write letters to prisoners on Sundays as part of a prison abolition group, and I'm going to build a brick oven at a community center this weekend, hopefully.
@teslas_moustache that’s really cool. What is Food Not Bombs? This is the second reference I’ve seen today.
@jason Yes, in Canada too! #nationalvolunteerweek
I volunteer a LOT of my time to the Victoria Tool Library. We spent two years building it and opened for loans on February 4th. I probably spend 6 to 8 hours a week toward various aspects (staffing, cataloguing tools, training volunteers, and other board related activities).