Match-a-kid: Volunteering

I look at what's out there to volunteer for and update the blog. The blog is like a clearinghouse for projects. The sources I get my info from are the library, the community centers, the senior centers, educational institutions and the municipal office in Montgomery.

It is one thing to be a part of the community and it is another matter to belong and be social in it.
The blog is about creating and talking about projects that the community and especially the youth can be involved in for community service.

Many High Schools do not have community service as a requirement for credit but it is a useful way to occupy a mind, involve in helping others and more than anything else- being part of the society in which one already belongs.

Here you will find many ideas for projects that can be taken up.

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number of the day 582,000 on 2/15/12

That's how many young people raised their hands -not just that- but applied to serve in the community. It is a different issue that they were all rejected. There wasn't enough resources to provide for them. Read more in this post.

It would be a practical view to have local volunteer work force that can find things to do. It enables being connected to the community and also to grow and evolve out of the small village to the large city/state.
Find an issue that matters at the local level and understand it. Find a way to deal with it to make it better. If there is a problem, fix it, or find out who can fix it. This will enable you to find a larger context to the problem and the next step would be to take it to the global level if not national.

Comments

Idea of Play

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/opinion/sunday/the-art-of-distraction.html An Excerpt: "An appeal to the pseudo-certainties of science might seem finally to settle any question. But this is a moral issue rather than a scientific one; values are at stake here — not facts. It is in the irritating human realm where the interesting difficulties are, and where one might have to really think about and deal with an individual’s history, circumstances and reactions. It is the attempted standardization of a human being and of a notion of achievement that is limiting, prescriptive and bullying." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STYU-iz8bUQ&feature=player_embedded Jill Vialet and play to make progress. http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=65656 on deadlines kill creativity

Civic Engagement for High Schoolers

This is a project to encourage Seniors and eligible Juniors at the High Schools to vote during election time in the Fall. The process involves the following steps that can be taken on by volunteers at the High School: 1. Bring the registration papers to their focus and help them become voters. This process involves getting in touch with the high school authorities to take permission, publicize about the sign-up program and be ready to register the students during school hours. 2. Another aspect of this process would be to create videos to explain the mechanics of voting and the importance of it on how to do it while in the voting booth. 3. An added initiative would be- if most students are going to be in college the following year, then they will need to be made aware of the process of voting by mail. All this in an effort to boost civic participation at a young age.

Some thoughts while doing the work with women facing violence in their intimate relationships.

It's a delicate line between asking a woman what she wants and telling her what's good for her. It is something I learned the hard way (and got trained) as a women's advocate while working with women who seek out help. Initially- after the first feelings of "doing-good" you get to another plane where you see a pattern of women going back to abusive relationships (with good reas ons- stigma, children, financial stability -and those are real ones). Then all you want to do is be there for them. Be there. Be there. Without judgement. Secondly, as an advocate- you take a few calls everyday and meet a few women; a lot of them desperately seeking help and sometimes asking for shelter. You need to have a better handle on your own understanding about the fact that you are not the judge of what is to be the right thing for someone else's life. Meaning you counsel as a peer and not as a "helper" or a "fixer" of problems. The training I did as a

Simple Serve

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