Tag Archives: volunteering

Volunteering

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What do you think of when the discussion turns to volunteering?  Meals of Wheels?  The committee of a local organisation?  Assisting communities in Africa or Timor?  Assisting injured wildlife?  Planting trees?

These are all worthwhile and valid forms of volunteering but there are many others.  There are almost as many forms of volunteering as there are people in the world.  Sometimes we do it while it barely registers.

Yesterday I visited the small retirement village where my mother lives.  I gave a slideshow presentation of some of the photos from our trip to Scotland last year.  Mum had asked me if I would consider doing this as she felt that several of the residents would enjoy seeing them.

The presentation was advertised in the village newsletter, I assembled about 30 photos which I felt best reflected our travels and made some notes with specific details about the various places.

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The armchair travellers assembled and we were set to traverse the ‘Islands and Highlands of Scotland’.

I was delighted with the level of engagement by the audience and thoroughly enjoyed retelling some of the anecdotes of our travels.  However, I was completely unprepared for the overwhelmingly positive feedback and thanks which I received.  I was thanked profusely for donating my time.  I had not even thought of it like that – I was simply having fun sharing my passion for some of the places we had visited.  There may well be more travel slideshows of other destinations in the future.

Today was a completely different story.  A small but committed group of us gathered to print more pockets for the Boomerang bags which are made by our local group.  Boomerang bags utilise salvaged and secondhand fabrics to create reusable carry bags.  These are sold for a very modest $5.00 and we were pleased to be able to make a substantial donation to the local Neighbourhood Centre at the end of last year.  The centre supports disadvantaged and vulnerable people in our community.  The Boomerang Bag project saves fabric from landfill, limits single use plastics and supports our community and I am glad to be a part of it.

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A reminder that you are never to young to be involved in volunteering and making a contribution.

I would love to hear about your volunteering contributions.

 

Other Interests

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You could be mistaken for thinking that I have no other interests apart from what I write about here.

While gardening, cooking and sewing are both hobbies and an integral part of our simple, sustainable life they are not my only interests.

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GMan and I have many shared interests.  Films, books, photography, history, music, art, architecture and travel are equally as important to me as the more practical pursuits.  I don’t have as much time as I would like to indulge in some of these and they are often mostly confined to holiday times.

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We both enjoy the films and social interaction provided by the local film society screenings each fortnight in our country town.  Today was the AGM of the society and I have accepted the role of secretary for a second year.  Community organisations such as the film society exist due the generous contribution of members who volunteer in a variety of ways and I feel that it is important to give back to the community in this way.

Are your hobbies inextricably linked to your lifestyle or do you have hobbies or interests that are……..just because?

Supporting A Charity

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There are all sorts of ways we can help those less fortunate than ourselves.  There are so many worthwhile charities out there who are doing magnificent work that sometimes it is hard to choose where your dollar should go.  There is everything from the largest global organisation to small, local groups whose work goes mostly unnoticed.

2013-04-21 03Today you have an opportunity to help a small but amazing band of people who knit new items for those who are in dire need.  They make everything from beanies for premature babies to blankets.

You can vote online for the Heritage Bank Volunteer of the Year nominee, Karen Croke who set up the group, ‘Knitting For Brisbane’s Needy’ 7 years ago.  The prize for the Volunteer of the Year would be used to fund storage and transport facilities if she were to win.

2013-02-02 02You can read more about the group here.

You can follow this link to vote.  Just click on the ‘Vote Now’ button and scroll down until you find Karen Croke and then just follow the directions.  She is currently in second place.  You can only vote once from each email address, however, if you have access to more than one email address you will be able to vote once from each address.

I have no particular interest in the outcome of this award apart from the fact that Karen is an acquaintance of mine and I would genuinely love to see her receive this award and consequently the prizemoney which would be used wisely.

International entries are also accepted.

Thank you for considering supporting this cause.

Regular posts will return tomorrow.

Space When You Need It

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I have previously written about the benefits of living with less.  By having less stuff in our homes we immediately benefit by having less maintenance – less washing, less dusting, less cleaning and so on.

Doing less allows us more time and freedom to choose what we do with that time.  This can be time to volunteer, exercise or indulge a variety of passions.

Sometimes things that are completely out of your control happen that require time and attention from you at relatively short notice.  This has happened to me and I have been able to easily adjust my schedule to accommodate these changes.

It made me think how much more stressful these situations would be if my days were completely crammed with commitments and I had to struggle with finding the time for important things that require my attention.

Do you have spaces available and what would you do?

As an aside, I will try to maintain my blogging routine but please bear with me if there are some interruptions to the regular service.