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Making Social Change A Reality: A New Year's Resolution

As the year ends and the New Year approaches, I start to think about my New Year’s resolution from last year (exercise more, take time to read). I realized that if I set my mind to something, I generally do it.


I accomplished both of my New Year’s resolutions from last year, so for this year, I decided to include a new one that I know I can accomplish…volunteer!


Moving to a new city and having a new job has given me the opportunity to spend some free time volunteering with different organizations. It wasn’t hard and the reward is meeting new people, learning a new place and helping to raise awareness for issues that are important to me.


The other great thing I realized about volunteering is how contagious it is. I mentioned to some friends about some of the volunteering efforts I was apart of, and immediately they were interested in participating too. I soon found out that I could afford to give some more time to other organizations looking for volunteers.


So one thing I am going to continue to do is volunteer in the coming New Year, with this organization and others because it is important to me and the success of the organization. Often times organizations just need a little support to get going, and if it happens to be in your area of expertise, than even better.


So I ask you this, how will you make social change a reality in the coming year?


Written by Matthew Reid, volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. A native New Yorker, Matthew now lives in Boston and works for a math curriculum development company.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great site and agree re the value of volunteering. The world economy relies so much on unwaged work and it really should be better valued.

If you're interested in my - slightly tongue-in-cheek - resolutions, visit http://russellcavanagh.com/2/?p=102

Readers might also find this useful:
http://www.socyberty.com/Activism/How-to-Improve-Your-Local-Community.160627

All the best for 2009
Anonymous said…
i find that one of the biggest problems most volunteers face is where to find volunteering opportunities. in case it helps, here's my list of volunteering sites categorised depending on the type of volunteering they offer.

http://urbansurvivalproject.googlepages.com/online-volunteering

cheers

rizwan
www.urbansurvivalproject.org
Thanks Rizwan and Russell for sharing these resources!

@Rizwan - there are dozens if not hundreds of sites one could look to find volunteer opportunities. Perhaps the mere task of searching for said opportunities is what stalls the process. That's why your list is so valuable! Thanks so much for sharing with our readers.

@Russell - Thanks so much for sharing your guide with us. It's well written, simple and to the point! It would be interesting to see if anyone has used this guide and what their results were. If you have that information, please feel free to share it with us.
Anonymous said…
I made a 2009 resolution to be more hopeful and generate more hope for others. I am accomplishing this by volunteering more, writing more, and making a conscious effort to find something that generate hope for me every day (could be something I've read, a conversation with a friend, something I accomplsihed at work, etc.)
NYer said…
Especially in these tough economic times, volunteers will help to get our economy moving again. Thanks for all the comments, kep them cominng!
HelpFromHome said…
I also wanted to do more along the volunteering line, so I set up a website called Help From Home http://www.helpfromhome.org/ where people could volunteer their time to help worthy causes from the comfort of their own home. I already do a few of the volunteer actions listed on the site, so I'm hoping other people will look at the site and be inspired to contribute their time to worthy causes. Fingers crossed.

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