I want to take a minute on my blog to write a little bit about something that is very important to me. I'm not a religious person but I was raised to believe in community, family and putting out a hand to help others in need. Growing up I did a lot of volunteer work and it was very influential in how I lived my life and looked out on the world. That is, I learned to look at the world not through a lens of pity for those who are less fortunate than I but through a view of how can I help and what can I do to make it better.
I was listening to NPR a few months ago and the commentator was talking about budgets. I have a very limited budget so I was listening closely. She started to discuss her own personal budget and how important charity is to her and her family and that they, in good and bad times tithe. While that's not my cup of tea I recognized that I'd been missing something in my life in terms of how I used to volunteer. I haven't done it in ages. So I figured I would do something about it.
I waited and procrastinated then in happenstance overheard a conversation about how a charity that was to pick up groceries was no longer able to follow through on the commitment. A light bulb went on in my head. The grocery store was on my way home from work and there was a homeless shelter on a slight detour from my house. I could do this as my part in volunteering.
I contacted the shelter, River St Shelter in Beverly, MA, made sure they would accept donations if I were to pick up and drop them off. I then contacted the store's marketing person and scheduled a day for pick up of bread, produce, canned goods and other assorted items. I scheduled for Mondays.
Some Mondays I have to bag the bread myself, or box up the grocery items but many times it is ready and waiting for me. Even when I do have to bag the items myself a bagger is willing to help me to do it, or someone is willing to help me to my car. It takes about 15 minutes out of my day and costs me nothing, the store and the shelter are on my way home from work.
It gives me a great sense of accomplishment. In one sense I'm helping take things out of the landfill and put them into hands that can use them; but I'm also helping to feed people who on some occasions go without. The reaction of the residents is fantastic, the majority are veterans with substance abuse or other mental health issues. People who have served the country in one form or another and the VA system has failed them.
All you need to do is call a shelter, ask them for permission and call a grocery store, caterer or restaurant and ask if you can pick up on a particular day. Call before you arrive to find out if the product is ready or if they have product that day and it's as simple as that. Of course not everyone is going to have a shelter on their way home, but you could ask if they have a charitable organization that gets food for them where you could drop off. It only takes 15 minutes to help someone in need. In this time of charitable organizations losing funding it is more important than ever that everyone get out there and help others.
Anyway. I often work 50 to 60 hours a week, if I can do it anyone can do it. I urge anyone who reads this post to pass this information on to other, feel free to copy and paste this and link to this post.
What a great thing to do, and how satisfying. My daughter-in-law and I are trying to decide what we can do to help, preferably locally and this really appeals to me. Thanks for sharing this story. You really deserve a very happy new year.
Posted by: Carol | January 10, 2009 at 06:52 AM
it works well for me because of my proximity to the store and that the shelter is on my way home. But it takes little time and it makes me feel good. What goes around comes around. I hope that you do try this out and see how it works. Don't always expect your grocery store to be ready for you or for everyone on the same page, eventually they'll get it but hang in for the initial bumps!
Posted by: leslie | January 10, 2009 at 08:32 AM