Volunteering vs. Taking Care of Ourselves

Ok...so today is Christmas...with no family in town I'm relying on my friends to get me through the holiday. I could be serving food in a soup kitchen but I just never seem to get around to making that commitment. If I had kids that would seem like the perfect opportunity to show them how lucky they are. But since I don't (have kids) and I know it's rough out there I'm choosing to spend it on myself. Today is a day to clean, get organized for the New Year, talk to old friends, catch up on sleep, go to a movie, and out for Chinese.

But back to the helping out part. I do think it's important. Being Jewish I believe wholeheartly in doing mitzvahs. But I do think they need to come from your heart and not just out of obligation. And if I think back over the year I can recall the special things I've done for others. I've been volunteering at the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, tutoring a friends children, helping out a friend in need and doing small things here and there when I can. Perhaps I should make one commitment to an organization; that might feel more productive and less scattered. But it's just not where I am right now.

I think we need to look at our lives and determine how we are doing first and then how much of our energy can we realistically contribute to the world. We can overextend ourselves, burn ourselves out, and then no one benefits.

Being mindful of our needs, taking care of those needs and then thinking of one effort that will make a difference would be a good New Years Resolution. Think about it!

Volunteering

This is definitely the time of year where volunteerism goes up. With soup kitchens needing assistance, non-profits of all kinds needing people to adopt a family for the holidays, gift wrapping activities; you name it, there are plenty of organizations to volunteer for. Where am I volunteering? Not the soup kitchen, nor any of the places I mentioned. But for the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center. Because my mom is a holocaust survivor I used to be on the board of this very important organization. A couple of months ago I called them up to see if they needed any help. It's amazing how much this organization has grown from the days when I was on the board. Back then I interviewed Holocaust survivors, pre-Steven Spielberg. It was an awesome responsibility to elicit responses from people who had been through the horrors of the holocaust. KOMO-TV provided us with the venue and professional videotape equipment which was so terrific. We created a video out of those stories and I wrote the first grant that the organization received in order to complete it.

Things have grown tremendously since I was on the board; they have about 12 trunks filled with books, curricula and other educational materials that are constantly going out to schools for teachers who are doing a unit on the Holocaust. Professional done posters have been made that describe artifacts that the Center has along with the person who donated it. I've been assisting with some of the artifact cataloging.

Along with this, I've been inspired to write my own families story directed at the middle school age group. I don't know how far I'll get, but the Center assures we that I can self-publish and they'll get it out there. How amazing that would be! I've never even considered being an author. But then there are always ways to accomplish something great, even if you haven't considered them as possibilities. Right now I'm keeping myself open to all possibilities.

If you volunteer, you never know where opportunities could lead or you may find the inspiration to do something you had never thought of before. Get out there and find an organization that speaks to your heart. You never know, you may end up their next Executive Director, if you aren't careful.