May 17, 2021 | jonesw
Volunteering is not only great for your community, but great for you as well! Getting involved with a cause can help you find purpose, connect with others, and feel good about the difference you’ve made. Helping out is also great for everyone, no matter their age. Use the resources below to get involved today!
The photo Colorful Hands by Tim Mossholder is made available through Unsplash.
Connect With Volunteer Opportunities
Small Ways to Make a Difference
- Pick up trash in your neighborhood
- Drop off food at a local pantry
- Spread the word about organizations that you care about
- Donate books to a Little Free Library in your neighborhood
- Reach out to your neighbors. Someone you know may need help with chores or small errands.
Books to Inspire
In Happiness, Matthieu Ricard demonstrated that true happiness is not tied to fleeting moments or sensations, but is an enduring state of soul rooted in mindfulness and compassion for others. Now he turns his lens from the personal to the global, with a rousing argument that altruism -- genuine concern for the well-being of others -- could be the saving grace of the 21st century. It is, he believes, the vital thread that can answer the main challenges of our time: the economy in the short term, life satisfaction in the mid-term, and environment in the long term.
Can the hyperambitious, bottom-line-driven practices of the global economy incorporate compassion into the pursuit of wealth? Or is economics driven solely by materialism and self-interest? In Caring Economics, experts consider these questions alongside the Dalai Lama in a wide-ranging, scientific-based discussion on economics and altruism.
Change the World, Change Your Life shows you how to get involved and effectively address the problems you care about most, from your own backyard to the world stage. It provides a blueprint for being of service and includes practical resources for making a difference in a way that will also change your life. Interlaced with stories of individuals who have found ways to give, large and small, it is exactly the right book for these times.
Most of us want to make a difference. We donate our time and money to charities and causes we deem worthy, choose careers we consider meaningful, and patronize businesses and buy products we believe make the world a better place. Unfortunately, we often base these decisions on assumptions and emotions rather than facts. As a result, even our best intentions often lead to ineffective--and sometimes downright harmful--outcomes. How can we do better?
A road map to a better society linking the cognitive psychology of individual and social decision making Drawing on his sweeping and innovative research, philosopher and cognitive scientist J. D. Trout recruits the latest findings in psychology, behavioral economics, and neuroscience to answer the question: How can we make better personal decisions and design social policies that improve the lives of everyone? Empathy prompts us to roll up our sleeves. Empathy for the risk and suffering of our fellow citizens can lead to moral outrage, more decent laws, and fairer policies. But new research on judgment and decision making has revealed that the human mind makes decisions that undermine the best interests of the individual and society alike. Empathy is an admirable impulse, but alone it is unreliable. It needs to be balanced by rationality if we are to develop a responsible social approach to decent and democratic policy making.
The Kindness Cure draws on the latest social and scientific research to reveal how the seemingly "soft skills" of kindness, cooperation, and generosity are fundamental to our survival as a species. In fact, it's our prosocial abilities that put us at the head of the line. Blended with moving case studies and clinical anecdotes, Cousineau offers practical ways to rekindle kindness from the inside out.
The riveting story of how a young man turned $25 into more than 200 schools around the world and the guiding steps anyone can take to lead a successful and significant life.
Kids Books to Inspire
Head back to 62 Days of Summer for more ways to participate in the summer program!