Tag Archive for volunteer

95, with Stitches and a Heart

I’d like to do some charity work, try to make a difference in people’s lives. But I’m 95, so I’m not super strong. and I fell recently and am recovering with sore muscles and 14 stitches. You can’t expect me to do much.

If you can say this, your name is not Jimmy Carter. At 95, recovering with a black eye and stitches, he’s out there in Nashville building porches on 21 homes. He’s active and enthusiastic in his work with the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, working with Habitat for Humanity. Read about this HERE. And take a minute to watch the short video there. Then, if you are NOT 95 and ailing, what’s stopping you from a little volunteer work?

Will ISIS Fighters Quit over Wages?

I just heard that ISIS fighters earn $4200 a month, and more if they have a wife and children.  But now that American bombers have been blowing up their stashes of money, they’re cutting that salary in half.

This made me wonder how many of their fighters are motivated less by ideology and pleasing Allah and more by a wage they likely couldn’t earn in another job.  Will the cut in salary and benefits lead hoards of fighters to quit and–if they aren’t executed–go home?  Maybe, too, devoted ISIS volunteers living in other countries (like the U.S.) will demand that they be paid and refuse to blow themselves up if they aren’t.

Here’s a thought: will capitalism do what nations and peoples have been unable to do, namely, spell death to ISIS?

 

Work for Free?

Work for free!  It will be fun!  It’s a chance to learn how the business operates while you pack and ship orders!  You’ll get a free lunch!

URBN (they own Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie) was hoping for a good response when they sent an email  to their salaried employees asking just that.

Would you give up your time to volunteer to help so your (large) company can meet the demands of a busy month?  Many people did, and even salaried employees volunteered, although they were denied the opportunity because that’s against labor rules.

Okay, so volunteering (assuming there was no corporate pressure) to help your company may be a sign of loyalty.  If so, why doesn’t such loyalty go both ways?  If they need more people to work, even for only a month, and if they can’t find enough part-timers, why not reward the faithful with a monetary bonus?  A business that large with the “problem” of having too many orders to fill should have enough in their budget to show respect for their workers.

 

 

 

Boston Bombers: You Got to Us

You proved something to us.  We’re mourning our 3 dead and 176 injured.  And those of us who weren’t there when your bombs went off are watching news coverage of the medically trained marathon volunteers as they rush in to tend the wounded, as well as the many other runners and spectators putting their fear aside to help however they can.  We’re learning of the two soldiers just back from Afghanistan who rushed in to put pressure on wounds, then ran to the hospital to give blood.  We‘re hearing about the many faiths who are organizing an interfaith prayer service for the victims.  We see law enforcement agencies from all levels of government working together to aid victims and find clues to who did this terrible deed.  We’re finding out about people from as far as California, at our nation’s other coast, mobilizing to offer assistance in Boston.  We’re listening to government leaders from the President on down speaking with determination, vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Yes, you got to us.  You got to our spirits and hearts, to the soul of America.  You brought us even closer together as a nation, as a united people.  You brought out our compassion, not our fear.  You emphasized our oneness, not our divisions.  You caused us to focus on what is right and good, not on what is selfish, jingoistic, or evil.

I doubt that that was your intention.