Making Your Corner of the World a Little Brighter: Volunteer Opportunities for Busy People

Sometimes I think I spend
my entire life
on the road!

How many times have you said, "I'd love to volunteer, but I just do not have the time!"  I know I have. It's occurred to me that I may have overstated the situation a bit.  I've been brainstorming some community-service ideas for busy folks and here's what I have come up with:

Double Cooking

Make a double batch and freeze one to share!

When you're preparing a dinner, why not cook double the amount and freeze it to share with someone. Our church organizes meals for shut-ins, those who are ill, and bereaved families and, invariably, the call for a contribution comes at a time when I truly do not even have time to make a piece of dry toast. If you keep one or two casseroles or entrees in the freezer, you are prepared!

Bleacher Crafting

Both of my children played sports or cheered so I racked up a tremendous amount of bleacher time, much of which was simply waiting for the next game/match.  I often threatened to start a quilt, but never did.  Why don't you outdo me and keep your knitting/crocheting/handwork in your bleacher bag. You could craft prayer shawls and baby blankets and preemie hats and chemo caps as you rack up the bleacher hours.  Now that's something worth cheering about!

Scorekeeping

How many people in your community
could use a warm scarf?

The Resident Dragon coached for years and, in the interest of seeing him more than 20 minutes a week, I learned to keep score for every sport he coached or my children played.  It made sense to make good use of the time I was racking up in the bleachers.  Turns out, I was actually good at it, and there was always a shortage of good scorekeepers.  

Social Media/Web Maven

Most organizations I know could really use a decent social media/web maven.  If you enjoy fiddling around on Facebook or Instagram or Pinterest or Twitter or Google+ or blogs or the web, you could volunteer those skills to your church or a ball team or a local charity.  It's work that can be done from home, and, often, does not take more than a few hours per week.

How do you volunteer in your community?

These are just a few ideas for making time to help others.  What do you do?  Post your ideas in the comments!

Nancy