I thought that with the holidays right around the corner a relevant topic of discussion for this week is the concept of local consciousness. Although this forum began as a place to bring awareness to issues around the world that may not have garnered your attention otherwise, I feel as though in order to be socially conscious and to help with global issues, the best place to start is right in your own backyard. I personally believe that by helping on a local level you are able to give a comparatively minimal amount of effort to a cause, yet potentially yield the greatest impact and sense of accomplishment. Think about it. How easy is it to volunteer at a soup kitchen for the homeless or tutor an underprivileged child for an afternoon? A few hours of work and you will usually be able to see the fruits of your labors. This is great, especially if you’re a firm believer in instant gratification, as myself.
There are many ways you can reach out and support your local community. However, like I mentioned, the holidays are encroaching on us so I personally wanted to focus on the volunteering and giving aspects of local consciousness. There are so many EASY ways to reach out and spread cheer this time of year. It’s as simple as wrapping a gift for a child and giving it to a charity or preparing a food basket so a family can have a meal on Thanksgiving Day. Minimal efforts, minimal costs, and maximum benefits. I think that all too often we get caught up in the negative aspects of the holidays (What am I going to feed 20 people? Ham or Turkey? I have so many people I have to Christmas shop for. What am I going to get everyone?). We forget that there are people out there who have to ask themselves, HOW am I going to feed my family? Or, Can I AFFORD a Barbie for my daughter on Christmas? I think that if we can keep those thoughts in the back of our minds this holiday season not only will we inspire to help others; we will realize how lucky we ourselves are.
So. That being said, if anyone in the Boston area is interested, I found this great local charity called Community Servings (http://www.servings.org/index.cfm). I am planning on spending some time there in the upcoming weeks depending on their needs and if anyone is interested in joining please let me know and I would be more than happy to make arrangements for you as well. For those of you not in Boston, I encourage you to use Google to find a comparable organization in your locality.
Of course, the holidays aren’t the only time of year we should exercise local consciousness. Improving our communities should be a year-round effort. As expected, during the holiday season the volunteering and donating opportunities are near endless. However, for those of you interested there are so many things you can do throughout the year to support your community and I wanted to mention a few of those things here as well. Included on this list is buying local, non-holiday related donation and volunteering, direct community involvement, and a few other random suggestions. I have posted details on all of these aspects below. I hope that you are able to use these suggestions to help to support your community and neighbors.
As always, thanks for the support!
~Amy
LOCAL CONSCIOUSNESS SUGGESTIONS:
BUY LOCAL
One of the best ways to support your local community is to buy locally grown or made products and support local businesses. The prices may be a tad higher than what you would expect to pay at a national chain store, but the economic benefits of buying local are fairly simple: It cuts out the middleman, puts more money into the local economy, and reduces transportation costs and environment-destroying, energy-wasting long hauls. A few examples of buying local include:
-Go to your local farmer's market to buy produce and other handmade goods.
-Ride your local transportation such as buses, trains, subways, rails, etc.
-Support your local businesses. Shop at local supermarkets, coffee shops, and boutiques.
DONATE
Giving is a great way to help others. Give old clothes that are still in good condition to less fortunate people or give them to a charity or a church that will distribute them for you. The Salvation Army is a good place to send your old clothes to. You do not need to only give clothes; you can give anything that still works fine (appliances, furniture, etc.). In addition to giving away your old things, you can also give money to various charities. Any donation counts!
Giving blood is a great way to save lives. Many cities have centers dedicated to year-round blood donations. If you cannot find one of these, go to your nearest hospital and ask about giving blood.
VOLUNTEER
Volunteer-ism has always been considered the best way to give to the community. Over 1/4 of Americans participate in some form of volunteer civil service. In 2006, over 60 million Americans gave over eight billion hours of their time to volunteer-ism. Here are a few ways that you can help give back to your community:
Many charities are too small to be able to afford certain types of manpower, like engineers, doctors, and accountants. If you have expertise in a field that most charities would have to pay for, volunteer your abilities.
Adopt a little brother or sister. By doing this, you can give an underprivileged kid some very rewarding experiences that he/she may not have had.
Help a charity get donations. Many places like grocery stores have locations where people can give to certain charities. Many companies have fund-raiser kits that you can use to raise money for your charity. There are also old fund-raiser favorites like the bake sale.
Become part of the local EMT (paramedics) or the fire department.
Volunteer in any way you can. You can volunteer to work in a soup kitchen, to help clean up the highways, to help deliver food to people who need it, to take someone who has no transportation to work, etc. The possibilities are endless. You can volunteer any amount of time that you want-from a day to a year or more.
DIRECT INVOLVEMENT
Become directly involved by checking out local community-service opportunities. Wherever you are, there will be groups of people doing their very best to make that place better. Join them. Head over to your town hall and sign up for whatever community-service activities strike your fancy.
Join a synagogue/church/place of worship. Places of worship are great places to meet people with all sorts of interests. Furthermore, you can count on these places to host many activities and town happenings.
A FEW OTHERS
A few ways to help your local community not to be forgotten include:
-Support local issues in your community. Vote!
-Recycle! Recycling is a way to give back to your community and help the world at the same time.
-Random Acts of Kindness and Pay it Forward. I remember hearing about the following story and I think it is a good example of a little something that people can do on a daily basis to make others happy:
“BIRMINGHAM – Sharon Dierking was at a Starbucks on U.S. 280, placing an order for a mocha frappucino. When she pulled up to the window, the barista told her the driver in the car ahead of her had paid for her order.
“I was completely dumbfounded,” Dierking said, “but I was thrilled.”
Dierking wanted to return the kindness to another, but her car was last in line. A few days later, she was able to pay it forward at a Starbucks in Inverness.
“It makes you feel good and it brightens your day,” she said.
Random acts of kindness are popping up at Birmingham area coffee shops, as customers are anonymously picking up others’ tabs.
Stacie Elm, a barista at an Alabaster Starbucks, said a line of five cars recently paid it forward. Customers are in a bit of disbelief when they discover their order has been paid for, she said. “Most are like, `You’re kidding.’”
But the shock gives way to generosity as people are compelled to pass along the kind gesture.
Baristas at Starbucks shops in eastern Birmingham, Hoover and Vestavia Hills also reported episodes of paying it forward – actually, backward, since the person in the front car paid for the person’s order in line behind him.
A Starbucks spokeswoman said the Seattle-based company promoted a Cheer Pass program in 2007, designed to remind customers to spread kindness. However, the pay-it-forward phenomenon is “consumer-driven,” she wrote. And kindness comes in more forms than a cup of coffee. Dierking said she saw the practice once at a grocery store when a stranger paid for groceries that a woman could not afford.”
Sometimes, as this story demonstrates, it doesn’t take much to randomly be kind. There are tons of local meet ups with people doing great things, from not-for-profits to interesting ideas that can change the world. Its always good to seek these out. You might meet cool people, you might learn something, and you’ll help build a community - which is a great vessel for spreading kindness.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Check out the following websites (or Google something relevant to your own interests!!):
www.livingeconomies.org
www.localharvest.org
www.volunteermatch.org
www.habitat.org
www.liveunited.org
www.cityyear.org
