 Since December has just begun, the holiday season is underway! No matter what you celebrate during this time, the holiday spirit is contagious and can be felt all throughout the community. For the most part, people see the holidays as a time to spend with family, open gifts, eat delicious food, and follow traditions. This year, however, you should try starting a new holiday tradition: volunteering. Volunteering during the holiday season is the perfect way to spread holiday cheer and show kindness and love towards people within your community. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider volunteering during the holidays:
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High School Volunteers: 3 Reasons why Volunteering is a Great Addition to Your College Application11/24/2021  If you are a high schooler like myself, especially a high school senior, then you are familiar with the stress and pressure of filling out your college applications. Applying to college can be daunting, and many students find themselves worrying about their GPAs and job experience, wondering if what they have accomplished over the past four years is enough to impress the colleges they seek to enroll in. Writing an application is a way of building a reputation or image of yourself for a college, and while many students are worried about quantifiable aspects of their transcripts, like grades, there is another part of the application that students overlook: service. Community service is a critical activity to add to your college application for a variety of reasons.
1. Volunteering for community service creates a drive to action and a propensity for leadership. Students who show an extensive interest in service opportunities prove to colleges that they are capable of being a leader within their community. They show that they are able to be hardworking team players who can make an impact in a real-world situation. 2. Volunteering for community service helps a student learn to work outside of their school environment. Sometimes, students are more comfortable searching for opportunities within the confines of their school. However, volunteering outside of school shows colleges that students aren’t afraid of tackling unfamiliar tasks and managing new environments. 3. Volunteering for community service builds a selfless passion for others. This is the most obvious benefit of volunteering. Colleges can see when a student has applied themselves to a volunteer opportunity because they are really passionate about the cause, and they will appreciate that a student is showing initiative and working to pursue these interests. In summary, volunteering works to create a better you. Community service is a great character builder, which is why so many colleges urge their applicants to find a volunteer opportunity that they are really passionate about. For high schoolers looking for ways to serve their community, there are many nonprofits that Triangle Cares partners with that provide service opportunities for students. Check out our website for more information about these organizations and how you can get involved. Remember: sometimes quantity is not the most important thing to consider with your college application. It’s the quality of your experiences that is truly valuable.  About Habitat for Humanity of Wake County
Habitat Wake has been offering affordable homeownership opportunities to Wake County families since 1985. In 2018, Habitat Wake merged with Habitat for Humanity of Johnston County and now serves both counties. In Habitat Wake’s thirty years of service, they have built more than 850 safe, affordable, energy-efficient homes. Our Why? One in four families in our community is cost-burdened, meaning they pay too much of their income toward housing at the expense of other necessities like groceries, healthcare and education. To help meet this need, Habitat Wake offers homeownership opportunities for families making less than 80% AMI, and preserves existing affordable homes. Habitat Wake also advocates for policy change that will increase access to housing for everyone Through support of our community, provided by corporations, faith groups, foundations individual donors and proceeds from Habitat for Humanity Restores, Habitat Wake is able to build homes, communities and hope. Faith Coalitions Our faith community is pivotal to our success! Hundreds of congregations partner with us each year to raise funds, send volunteers, pray for our community and advocate for affordable housing. Our first mission principle is to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ. We undertake our work to demonstrate the love and teachings of Jesus, acting in all ways in accord with the belief that God’s love and grace abound for all, and that we must be “hands and feet” of that love and grace in our world. We believe that, through faith, the miniscule can be multiplied to accomplish the magnificent, and that, in faith, respectful relationships can grow among all people. Volunteering Habitat Wake has many ways to get involved! You can volunteer at our Construction sites, at any of 10 Habitat for Humanity ReStores in the Triangle, or in the office as a skills-based volunteer. On our Habitat construction sites we work alongside future homebuyers to build new homes. We do everything from laying the foundation to painting the walls. No experience is necessary: we have permanent staff and AmeriCorps members to help guide you. Construction sites are open to volunteers Thursday through Saturday. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old and fully vaccinated. Learn more about volunteering with our construction team: https://www.habitatwake.org/volunteer-build-habitat-wake. The Habitat for Humanity ReStores offer volunteer opportunities too! Volunteers work side-by-side with staff with responsibilities including helping customers find what they need, taking donations and thanking donors, making sure the lights and houseware departments are organized and many more. Volunteers must attend an orientation before volunteering. We have orientation twice a week and we do not accept walk-ins. Learn more about volunteering at the ReStores: https://www.trianglerestores.org/volunteer  When deciding where you want to volunteer, you should carefully consider each nonprofit before you dedicate your efforts to their cause. To ensure that the organization you are supporting is legitimate, you should ‘vet’ the nonprofit, or evaluate and take a critical examination of the organization. Sometimes, nonprofits use flashy advertising and marketing strategies in order to garner people’s support, but in reality, they are not helping the people they claim to support to the best of their ability. Below, I have created a list of steps you should take to confirm that the nonprofit you wish to support is legitimate and effective.
 About Urban Ministries of Wake County
In 1981, Urban Ministries of Wake County was founded when congregations of diverse faiths and denominations realized their community members lacked the basic necessities of food, medicine, and shelter. Their mission is to serve and advocate for those in poverty by providing these needs and more. In the 40 years since its founding, it has grown immensely, providing food to more than 30,000 people a year! In 2017, Urban Ministries was named the largest Food Pantry in Wake County to allow families to choose their food instead of being given pre-bagged food. Their Open Door Clinic also allows 1,500 uninsured adults to receive the care they need. In addition, they have a shelter dedicated to helping homeless single women. If you want to learn more about Urban Ministries, watch the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWrz5SnnYMs Helen Wright Center for Women In 2000, The Ark Shelter, which was the emergency shelter that Urban Ministries provided, became focused on homeless single women. A year later, the shelter was renamed the Helen Wright Center for Women after the agency’s first director, Sister Helen Wright. In June 2020, a new 73-bed Helen Wright Center for Women opened, with the growth enabling service to more women in need. What makes this shelter special is that it is not just a place to sleep - it also actively prepares the women for the world. The shelter offers counseling services, workforce development, job readiness, and life skills classes. The shelter includes an initial 14-day stay and if a woman needs additional help, she can request to enter a program bed. After their initial stay, the Helen Wright Center for Women offers a program where the women can begin to save money toward a lease of their own. This center is amazing because it not only saves the women, but it helps build them back up. Volunteer Urban Ministries feels blessed to have over 1,600 volunteers each year, and you could be one of them! Volunteer opportunities range from volunteering at the Food Pantry, at the Helen Wright Center, at the Open Door Clinic, or greeting at the front desk. There are differing age limits for each volunteer opportunity, but you could start as young as 13 at the Food Pantry! Volunteering at Urban Ministries is an amazing way to give back to your community and help those who are in a time of need. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please click this link: https://urbanmin.org/get-involved/volunteer/  What elicits empathy in our hearts? Is it hearing the stories of thousands who are suffering, which evokes within us a sense of justice and charity? According to psychological studies and research, the greatest factor that garners empathy are the names and faces of the victims struggling, not their struggle itself. When it comes to appealing to a person’s pathos, the scale of an issue is irrelevant; what matters is that the person can feel a human connection to those who are being affected.
Dan Ariely, the President elect of the Society for Judgement and Decision Making, who also received a doctorate degree in cognitive psychology from the University of North Carolina, explains a prominent example of this phenomenon that he had experienced. He recalls how, in September of 2008, there were two new stories that grabbed his attention. The first was the headline of the New York Times; it was a report of the damages in Texas from Hurricane Ike, which had ravaged the state and left millions of people without a source of electricity. The second was a story about a young male, Mark Schneider, who was found attacking his mother in the head with a baseball bat. While both stories were troubling and elicited empathy, Ariely noted that the media focused on the second story more. This is because people could connect with the story since they were able to personally see the damage done to an identifiable woman, a woman with a name and a face. While the news about Texas was similarly tragic, and even affected more individuals, people were unable to empathize as much because they didn’t feel an interpersonal connection. This reference poses a segway into the dangers of a phenomenon known as “empathy traps.” An empathy trap is a situation in which showing empathy enables an individual or group to take advantage of you for your good graces. Many people fall victim to empathy traps when deciding what kind of organizations to whom they want to donate their money. Frequently, large corporations will use empathy traps to bring in more donations from generous, empathetic hearts, and they will take advantage of those donations to further their own agenda. One of the most prominent examples of this is when people donate or volunteer to help out developing nations under the guide of a large corporation. Most of the time, the work done by those groups for the developing nation does not benefit the developing country; in fact, there is an ongoing debate that mission trips, which are held to give volunteers a chance to help out in developing nations, are actually very harmful to those vulnerable communities. While not all volunteer organizations participate in such traps, the bottom line is, when you are looking to donate your time or money, objectively consider if you are effectively contributing to the bigger cause. Remember, it might be tempting to pay more attention to the one, but you do not want to ignore the many. That’s why it’s important to research which organizations you are planning to donate to or volunteer for, and make sure that they are an organization you can trust to help as many people as possible.  About Miracle League of the Triangle
Through America's favorite pastime of baseball, the Miracle League of the Triangle celebrates the lives of people living with special needs. Their non-profit organization welcomes baseball players with disabilities and their families to experience a positive sense of community and kinship; a spirit of inclusion; and an acceptance for who they are and what they bring to their community. At Miracle League, individuals who may not otherwise be afforded the opportunity to play on a team are welcomed with open arms to bring their smiles, laughter, and energy to their very own baseball diamonds. Just like in the Big Leagues, each athlete is called up to bat with a personalized nickname and Walk-up music, and every player scores their team a run on the scoreboard. The Miracle League has grown over the past 14 years, starting with 80 children on eight teams to now serving over 500 individuals in the triangle’s special needs community. Today, forty teams play on two customized, accessible fields located in Cary and North Raleigh. They are growing and have a goal to serve over 1,000 local players, including opening a future ball field to be built in Durham near the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Through partnering with The Miracle League, Triangle cares is hoping to help them achieve this goal! Volunteer The shared joy at Miracle League is made possible not only through players and parents, but also a community of dedicated volunteers. In fact, the program offers over 4,000 volunteer opportunities between the two seasons held each Spring and Fall. Volunteer Coaches and Buddies work one-on-one with players, emphasizing skills, safety, and, of course, lots of fun. You must be at least 12 years old to volunteer and at least 16 years old to coach. The volunteer opportunity that caught my eye is becoming a Buddy. Buddies are paired up with a player and help assist and protect the player while allowing them the freedom to play. Being a buddy is an amazing opportunity to be engaged and almost anyone can be one (ages 12 and up)! Working one-on-one with the players will also give you a new perspective on life and warm your heart. If you would like to learn more about Miracle League of the Triangle’s volunteer opportunities, click this link: https://www.mltriangle.com/volunteer/ Anyone who has seen a Miracle League game in action quickly realizes they are witnessing something extraordinary. As every special athlete scores a run you feel the excitement of success; the thrill of victory; the elation of triumph; and the security and pure joy of being called “Safe!” at home.  In the year of 2011, the Red Cross raised nearly half a billion dollars in donations to repair and build homes for the Haitian individuals and families affected by the earthquake that ravaged their country. However, even with such ample funds, Red Cross’ achievements in their service were “dubious” at best. While the Red Cross had pledged to build homes for 130,000 people in Haiti with the money collected, only six homes were constructed, a number that doesn’t come close to covering the amount of damages and setbacks that the Haitian community faced; likewise, this small number does not correlate to the large amount of funds that the company received through donations. In communities such as Campeche, a city close to Haiti’s capital, many individuals continued to suffer in poor living conditions, dwelling in crumbling homes and using dilapidated facilities. As it turns out, the Red Cross had put a huge portion of their budget towards managing expenses, not building homes; a lot of money went to other groups with more experience in building homes, and Red Cross spent a lot of their budget on hiring more qualified staff members than their own. Their efforts were fruitless because of their lack of expertise in both building homes and understanding the Haitian culture; the language gaps made it difficult for the Red Cross workers to communicate with the Haitian citizens, delaying their progress tremendously.
Despite the fact that many organizations, such as the Red Cross, struggle to show actual results of their ambitious service goals, or the impacts of large amounts of donation money, many people continue to donate to these large organizations. However, because the Red Cross is vague about how their donation money is being used, many individuals aren’t sure how their donations are benefitting people. That’s why it’s far more rewarding to volunteer locally, where you can see the results of your hard work and dedicated service. When you volunteer within your community, you get to see how your compassionate endeavors are bettering the lives of those who are underserved. It’s a very personal experience, where you will meet people with wildly different backgrounds than you, and you will gain wisdom and develop a greater sense of empathy. In addition, rather than donating to a company who puts most of your money towards “managing expenses,” you are donating to a nonprofit who not only needs the money more than big “cash cow” organizations like the Red Cross, but will put your money towards good use. Numerous nonprofits within the Triangle area have in-person volunteer opportunities where you can make a tangible difference in your community. Whether it’s sorting clothes at Note in the Pocket or working as kitchen staff at A Place in the Table, you can see the exact ways in which you are bettering people’s lives.  It may seem impossible to volunteer during the pandemic, as regulations have caused many nonprofits organizations to halt or decrease their amount of volunteer opportunities. But in actuality, there are many options available for you to safely volunteer that you can do, most of which from the comfort of your own home. Many teenagers are stepping up in their communities to help out wherever needed. Volunteers are needed now more than ever so if you feel unsafe volunteering in-person, consider one of the following options:
1. Connect with your local nursing home Most nursing homes are not accepting visitors or volunteers at the moment, so a great way to engage with the elderly community is to write letters to your local nursing home, creating a pen pal. You could also set up phone calls or Zooms with the nursing home residents. This can facilitate relationships between you and the nursing home residents, who can benefit from the social interaction. Erica Schwartz, a 16 year old from East Hills, N.Y., connected with the elderly through phone and video chats during the pandemic through a service called Big & Mini. 2. Donate/distribute food The pandemic has caused many people to lose their jobs, which has led to food insecurity. Local food banks have received an influx of requests for food. This is a great opportunity for you to give back to your community by donating food to the local food banks or volunteering to deliver food to the elderly and immunocompromised. If you are looking for an organization to support within Triangle Cares, you can donate or volunteer at Durham Community Food Pantry, Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Interfaith Food Shuttle, and Urban Ministries of Wake County. 3. Become a virtual tutor Last year, many schools shifted to a hybrid or virtual learning environment. This new learning environment caused multiple learning difficulties for a lot of students. These students continue to be behind in their classes as this new school year continues. You can volunteer some of your free time to help these students expand their knowledge and increase their grades. Sehajpreet Singh, a 17 year old from Bellerose Manor, Queens, started a tutoring program during the pandemic and donated a quarter of the profits to nonprofit organizations like the American Childhood Cancer Organization and Sense International India. 4. Create care packages for the homeless/donate to the homeless shelter Due to the pandemic and major job cuts, there has been a rise in homelessness. You can contribute to your community by creating care packages for the homeless or donating to your local homeless shelter. Care packages can include basic necessities like deodorant, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a water bottle, snacks, wet wipes, bandages, and even a book for entertainment. 5. Support a frontline worker During the pandemic, there has been a lot of stress put on frontline workers. Now is a great opportunity to support them and show your appreciation. You could do this by writing thank you cards or setting up a GoFundMe. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Cardinal Gibbons High School students wrote about 400 thank you cards to frontline workers, with notes of gratitude and inspiration. 6. Organize a clothing drive/donate clothes As job rates decrease and money is low, people’s priority is on their food and housing, not their clothing. But clothing is important too. You could go donate your gently used clothes or create a clothing drive to help those in need. If you are looking for an organization to support within Triangle Cares, you can donate or volunteer at Note in the Pocket. |
AuthorsLily Linton and Catherine Pabalate Archives
December 2021
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