Volunteer for Free with HelpX
Image source: Toothbrushnomads.com
I know several people who want desperately to volunteer. These are my friends. They’re smart, capable people, but they don’t have the capital to pay large program fees for a few weeks of service. My best friend, Rebecca, is a farmer. She runs her own organic farm in the middle of the city, giving fresh, free food to her neighbors. She lives in a low-income neighborhood, a place where it isn’t easy to find fresh produce. Every day she is improving the lives of her neighbors. She’s keeping children healthy. She’s making her street more beautiful with her incredible sunflowers and climbing vines. And yet, financially, she’s in a tough place. I look at her and I think any program would be so lucky to have her. She embodies the volunteering spirit that is at the heart of so many organizations. Still, she doesn’t go because she doesn’t have the money. She’d rather keep giving her food away for free than charge her poor neighbors so that she can travel to help other equally needy people, someplace else.
