poptart Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 I am curious what any of you and/or your ward/church does to help the least of these. I've been here long enough and complained enough about it, kind of curious if any of you do or nor someone who does. This is more so me wanting to learn more. Something I have planned when I have my ducks in a row and I have some things here squared away is helping out on reservations. One member I knew was telling me how the Church in Utah helped a lot of the Vietnamese refugees way back when so I figure this is a great place to ask. Thanks! Link to comment
rpn Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Meals on Wheels, help refugees, food drives, help in the pantry, foster parenting, reading with child at school every week, big brothers, help with a community scout troup, had children deliver meals to neighbors, singing in nursing homes/vet hospitals, cards and trinkets/supplies to veterans during the annual drive, disaster clean up (and taking calls and writing up work orders from those affected which is a job one can do from home if they have a computer), give foster children jobs in the early fall so they have money to buy their family presents for Christmas --- many have never had a change to give a gift to anyone else, doing laundry, running people to appts, doing pro bono work in my professional, take turn at the shelter with the food, collect and distribute blankets. There is no shortage of need. But it is helpful to do it under a non-profit umbrella organization because that is usually safer and often more likely to help rather than enable. 1 Link to comment
poptart Posted November 7, 2019 Author Share Posted November 7, 2019 14 minutes ago, rpn said: Meals on Wheels, help refugees, food drives, help in the pantry, foster parenting, reading with child at school every week, big brothers, help with a community scout troup, had children deliver meals to neighbors, singing in nursing homes/vet hospitals, cards and trinkets/supplies to veterans during the annual drive, disaster clean up (and taking calls and writing up work orders from those affected which is a job one can do from home if they have a computer), give foster children jobs in the early fall so they have money to buy their family presents for Christmas --- many have never had a change to give a gift to anyone else, doing laundry, running people to appts, doing pro bono work in my professional, take turn at the shelter with the food, collect and distribute blankets. There is no shortage of need. But it is helpful to do it under a non-profit umbrella organization because that is usually safer and often more likely to help rather than enable. Mind sharing a bit more? Are these things you've done, or others have done? I have a soft spot for the elderly, poor and foster children as I work with them a lot nowadays. Link to comment
Garden Girl Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Poptart... I think I'm typical of most LDS... I have my favorite charities and organizations that I contribute to regularly albeit more modestly because my main concern is tithing/offerings... GG 2 Link to comment
Duncan Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Our Stake has a Bishop's storehouse but we are encouraged to volunteer in the community 1 Link to comment
Traela Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Idaho Falls has a humanitarian center that is sort of sponsored by local leaders. Anyone can come in to work on various projects needed in the area. A local Episcopal church does Turkey Boxes, in which people donate the items needed for a full Thanksgiving dinner. People in my ward have been participating for many years now. 1 Link to comment
poptart Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 8 hours ago, Garden Girl said: Poptart... I think I'm typical of most LDS... I have my favorite charities and organizations that I contribute to regularly albeit more modestly because my main concern is tithing/offerings... GG That's more than a lot most and hey, tithes are tithes, seems like people just want something for nothing anymore. As poor as mom is she still gives to rescue missions and reservations. The latter I'm especially a fan of. 4 hours ago, Duncan said: Our Stake has a Bishop's storehouse but we are encouraged to volunteer in the community That's encouraging, what do you guys do? 1 hour ago, Traela said: Idaho Falls has a humanitarian center that is sort of sponsored by local leaders. Anyone can come in to work on various projects needed in the area. A local Episcopal church does Turkey Boxes, in which people donate the items needed for a full Thanksgiving dinner. People in my ward have been participating for many years now. Episcopals always do cool charity work, that and they love everyone just like Jesus would. Remember reading about the Episcopal bishop in SLC, he does a lot of good there. Link to comment
Duncan Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 1 minute ago, poptart said: That's more than a lot most and hey, tithes are tithes, seems like people just want something for nothing anymore. As poor as mom is she still gives to rescue missions and reservations. The latter I'm especially a fan of. That's encouraging, what do you guys do? Episcopals always do cool charity work, that and they love everyone just like Jesus would. Remember reading about the Episcopal bishop in SLC, he does a lot of good there. soup kitchen, plus every year we do a huge food drive for this food bank here Link to comment
InCognitus Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 That's one of the purposes of JustServe.org: https://www.justserve.org/ "At JustServe, we believe that nothing should get in the way of organizations and volunteers coming together to do good things for the community, so we help make this happen for free." Just put in your zip code, and you'll get a list of opportunities in your area. Some of them are community related, others are more specific to OP question. 1 Link to comment
Rain Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 1 hour ago, InCognitus said: That's one of the purposes of JustServe.org: https://www.justserve.org/ "At JustServe, we believe that nothing should get in the way of organizations and volunteers coming together to do good things for the community, so we help make this happen for free." Just put in your zip code, and you'll get a list of opportunities in your area. Some of them are community related, others are more specific to OP question. One of the things behind JustServe is that the church has found that there are a lot of times organizations that already have their feet on the ground. Rather than coming in and starting competition it is better to help the charity that is already there. I love what the church has done for this area where refugees and asylum seekers are concerned. There are so many churches here helping and they finally got together. One of the churches hired someone to be in charge of it all and all the other churches work through her to get things done. One really good thing about JustServe is that you can choose what kind of service you want to do. Just have an hour to do something. There may be someone in your area that needs that. How about a weekly position where you come in for the whole day? One of the charities may have that. Want to work in the arts? Do a search on the site for that. Or with the elderly? You can filter for that as well. And if there isn't something for you now there might be next month. Some of the things I know people have done: sewn bears for children's hospitals moved furniture into refugee apartments done a drive for diapers donated a pair of used glasses or an old phone yard work painting a house crocheting or knitting scarves, gloves, toys served food to asylum seekers translated for refugees or asylum seekers sorted clothes donated to a children's home cleaned books donated to a home for abused children sorted food at a food bank sat at an information booth for a motorcycle show the city had passed out water to runners at a charity run prepared a meal for a newly arrived refugee family painted pictures on a wall inspired by the art created by the needy children in the home (abused, foster, I'm not sure who the home was for). driven meals to the elderly entertained the elderly in assisted living with music, stories and art gathered jackets from school's lost and found areas (where children had long past picking them up) for the needy And that is just the tip of all the things that could be done. 3 Link to comment
sunstoned Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Anytime that I give money to a charity, I need to know how much of it goes directly to the disadvantaged. If an organization asks for money but will no disclose the details of how it is distributed or how much is distributed, then I walk away. In my book, non-transparency means there is a good chance they are hiding something. There are several legitimate transparent charities that I contribute to. One of which is the Salvation Army. They are open about their finances, and in my option exemplify Christ's charge to feed and clothe the poor. (Matthew 25:35-40). Link to comment
Garden Girl Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 On 11/9/2019 at 5:41 PM, sunstoned said: Anytime that I give money to a charity, I need to know how much of it goes directly to the disadvantaged. If an organization asks for money but will no disclose the details of how it is distributed or how much is distributed, then I walk away. In my book, non-transparency means there is a good chance they are hiding something. There are several legitimate transparent charities that I contribute to. One of which is the Salvation Army. They are open about their finances, and in my option exemplify Christ's charge to feed and clothe the poor. (Matthew 25:35-40). I, too, contribute to Salvation Army as one of my regular donations... they do wonderful work... GG 2 Link to comment
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