Got an Empty Pocket? Save the World.

Beneficiaries of Pack for a Purpose

Image source: Oprah.com

One of the exciting things about voluntourism is how it can be so easily incorporated into people’s lives. It piggy-backs on that yearly family vacation, transforming something you would do anyway into something unique and memorable. It recognizes that the easiest way to involve people in a project is to make it easy for them to participate. This is what makes Pack for a Purpose so compelling: it takes advantage of something unused that has always been there, transforming emptiness into usefulness… literally.

Nurse Volunteers: There Is Always a Need

Art Print by George Marks of a Nurse Comforting a Girl with a Doll

Image source: Art.com

Most people go into the healthcare field because they want to help people who are sick. But being a nurse is a very unglamorous job sometimes. It means treating all manner of wounds, cleaning up after people, and being exposed to infectious diseases on a daily basis. It takes a strong stomach and an iron constitution. There are long hours. You’d better have sensible shoes because you’re on your feet all day. Sometimes, patients die. But then again, sometimes they’re saved.

Are We Fooling Ourselves or Do Celebrities Really Inspire New Volunteers?

Angelina Jolie Wearing a Headscarf in India as Goodwill Ambassador

Image source: Dailynewschannels.com

I don’t often think of celebrities as being capable of divorcing themselves from their public. Perhaps I’m jaded by US Weekly or The Oscars—If one more stick figure tells me what she’s wearing I’ll lose it emotionally—but, my own prejudice aside, celebrities are people too. Many of them are people who care deeply about the world they live in. Sure, they hire stylists to make them look celebrityish and publicists to make them act likeable. But simply being a celebrity doesn’t make you vapid or incapable of giving or caring, it just carries some baggage.

Does it Matter that Altruism Doesn’t Exist?

Fanana Alofu Kalunde Africa Chimpanzees Displaying Give and Take Behavior

Image source: Greystokemahale.blogspot.com

I’m feeling philosophical today. It happens every so often. I wake up, go to brush my teeth and think, “Wow, there are so many brands of toothpaste, what a strange free market where we go berserk on a niche rather than simply meeting a need. How much waste could we avoid if we just had a single brand of toothpaste?” Then I think about the implications of that thought. “Americans need choices. What about people who have sensitive teeth, or who want whitening power? What about those poor souls?” Then I sit there over breakfast contemplating the world economy: needs vs. wants, the privilege of choice, the wastefulness of the free market, and my navel. I’ve brought this philosophical day right around to today’s blog post with the following question: is volunteering reward enough without the recognition, without the cultural A+ that we get for helping others?

NGO Profile: All Hands Volunteers

All Hands Volunteers NGO Logo

Image source: Vimeo.com

All Hands Volunteers is focused on “providing hands-on assistance to survivors of natural disasters around the world, with maximum impact and minimum bureaucracy.” There are several things that make this NGO unique. For starters, they provide housing and food for volunteers, so all you have to do is cover travel expenses. Since budgeting is such a huge problem for so many eager workers, providing these services means more people get to the scene of the disaster, and they get there fast.