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Charity Work (self.asklemmy)

submitted 1 year ago by Zyrinth to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Good morning everyone,

I am looking to do charity work for one year straight. Starting in February of 2024 my job is giving me a years salary to go do charity work of any sort.

So my question is, what kind of charity needs help around central Pennsylvania, USA?

I know there are soup kitchens and some popular ones like Habitat for Humanity, but how do I help the ones that might not have as many people helping them?

I apologize if this isn't the correct place to post this, I'm still very new to Lemmy.

Thank you

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[–] jubilationtcornpone 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If I had the time, I would volunteer as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). What's a "court appointed special advocate" you ask? Well, when kids go through the family court system, often because they've been removed from their home for their own welfare, entered the foster care system, etc. the court assigns them an "advocate". The advocate's job is to build a rapport with the child, check in with them regularly, appear with them in court, keep the court updated on how things are going, and even make recommendations to the judge regarding the child's care. As an advocate, you represent the child and only the child. You get to be a voice for them in this process.

It's a hard job and it can require a strong stomach. Kids who wind up in the court system have often been through hell. Some of the things you'll see and hear are awful and will make you feel sad or angry. Some people can be incredibly cruel even to their own children. I'd like to do this myself at some point because I think if I were able to help make even one kids life a little better, it would be worth it.

[–] Zyrinth 2 points 1 year ago

Oh my gosh, I'm surprised that I didn't even think of this! This is toss up between Peace Corp and this! Honestly, I'm more interested in this but I'd hate to do this only for a year or so. I'd feel like I'd get sucked into it. Thank you, I'll see if this is something I can qualify for.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you want something to commit a year of your life to, you want to match it to your own personality. It should be enjoyable (or at least satisfying) to you. It would help to know more about you. What are your interests and hobbies? Do you have any skills/skillsets that could be valuable to a charity?

Also think in terms of force multipliers. If you've experience with multi million dollar contracts, you could help a lot with a big charity, but would be wasted on a small one. Conversely, if your experience is smaller in scale, your help will have FAR more of an impact in a small, local charity. In a large charity, you would just be a cog in a different machine.

E.g. If you have some admin skills (and enjoyed it) you could be a life saver to small, local charity, that can't afford a full time admin person. If you have electrical wiring experience, you could put that to use.

Also pay attention to optics for your job. In a perfect world, you want something that looks good for them to be supporting, and builds skills you can bring back into your workplace. You don't want to be seen as swanning off for a year having fun, with little to nothing to show for it.

[–] Zyrinth 5 points 1 year ago

That's fair. I've done some small charity work, like food bank, packaging clothing/food, help local places via habitat for humanity. I really enjoyed those but that was more because it was with people I knew. I don't mind meeting people, so I'm sure the experience will be fine either way.

I don't have any amazing skills. I'm just a gamer and a fantasy nerd. I've worked at an ace hardware for 10 years so I have some home improvement knowledge but I never owned my own house so I only have knowledge of how to do things, not hands on experience.

Honestly, having both kinds of charities would be ideal. Being able to help globally and Sri have time for local stuff would be ideal, I just don't know enough about all this and when I reach out to these big places for help, they just want me to join them instead of trying to help me find something suitable.

I'm in an ad min in my current job, handling around 10 mil+ revenue, I'm not sure if that counts towards large scale contracts. But since I've got the experience, I'll definitely reach out and see what comes of it.

True, I didn't think of that. However, my boss is extremely generous. Our whole team is getting a year off to do charity work for a whole year. So our salaries are paid for the year and during this time, the only thing he's asking is to help others. Honestly it's a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what I can do. I wasn't too worried about not having anything to show for it but I guess I should?

I really appreciate this break down. I'll have to talk to my team and bring this up during our next weekly meeting. Hopefully the others will get some ideas out of this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wow that's pretty generous of your employer. What industry are you in if you don't mind sharing? Just curious as I've never heard of a company that is willing to shoulder a year's worth of salary for their employee to do something else.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I seen this in companies that give a sabbatical year at the 5-year or maybe 7-year anniversary.

But most often a gap year is when a company's exercising a non-compete, so you can do whatever you want for the year and get your base salary, but you can't work for a competitor. And some people will use that year to take a long vacation, or volunteer, anything that doesn't bring income in. Because usually in these circumstances any income you get is detracted from your base salary. So there's no incentive to make money for that year.

[–] Zyrinth 2 points 1 year ago

He is a visionary, he just wants things to happen and we're left standing around trying to figure out how to make it work.

We're a siding construction company. I don't know if I'm allowed to share it on the site here. But I can send you a link to who we are what what we're planning to do next year.

When I started here that was a huge selling point for me. They told me about this year off to do community service and I was like, that's beyond crazy. But as we talked about it each week and started seeing the numbers add up, it's insane how easy it is to make it happen.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Good luck. Ever since I stopped being a teenager every application I have put in for charity work has been declined followed by a request for money.

[–] Zyrinth 3 points 1 year ago

What the hell. I feel like actual hardwork should be worth way more than just money.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Maybe different in America, but here in Finland I've never been asked to pay myself so I could volunteer. And I've been in few different places. And I also haven't needed to provide any kind of CV to do volunteering (nobody has asked for such information).

Sometimes I'm offered free food, free products, free fun time and even one-time payments (they pay me - which I still find strange since I haven't gotten used to it!).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Charity explorers probably a good resource to investigate your local charities. But something you feel passionate about is important, especially if it's a full year.

If you want to travel, the Peace corps could be an option. Or volunteering at a lifestyle organization, like as a park ranger, or an animal shelter attendant. Whatever your passions are

[–] Zyrinth 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you so much! I looked into charity explorers and I don't think I would be too much of a help for them.

However, the peace corp is something I've never heard of and this seems amazing. I was looking for something local, but this is too amazing to pass up on. Depending on how much time I have in between doing this, I might just volunteer for something local on my own time. Thank you again!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Peace corps is amazing but it's quite a process to get in and I believe it's a 2 year commitment. If you want to do that you'll likely need to quit your job entirely.

[–] Zyrinth 3 points 1 year ago

I saw that it was a 2 year program but when I dug in a bit more, they have 3-12 options. I was looking at some 7 month programs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The best charity work in terms of bang for the buck is to do what you do for a living but for free. E.g., if you're a programmer, contribute to an opem source project. If you're a lawyer, do pro bono work. If you're a builder, go repair poor people's houses etc etc.

[–] Zyrinth 2 points 1 year ago

I would love to use my knowledge that I know how to help people but thw biggest issues is:

Finding who needs that help other than word of mouth and it's usually people who are lazy (from what I found so far)
Even small stuff requires a bit of money to be able to fix. I'm still paying off my student loans, medical bills, car payment, etc. I can spend about $50-$100 per week to help with small supplies here and there but I'd also like to save up for a house some day.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Honestly something that's worth looking into is building homes with habitat for humanity (or any other organizations doing the same thing).

It's pretty strenuous exercise and is good for you. Make sure to not abuse your body however and learn how to avoid doing so (i.e keeping back straight and squatting instead of bending over).

The most important aspect is learning carpentry, which is extremely good knowledge to have. It's not just learning a new skill and an option for a new career but its the money it saves you. A carpenter is a jack of all trades and is far from just framing 2x4s. You learn a little plumbing, some electrician work, framing, finishing and repairing drywall and some more.

Granted a lot of it is pretty surface level but for a lot of repairs and installs around the house it's all you need. Instead of paying like 1000$ for someone go install a toilet, do it yourself. Install outlets and light switches yourself, build basic custom furniture and shelves yourself. You become very self sufficient and it can save you so much money.