Opportunities

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase by clicking on my links. 

Last week, my daughter and I had the opportunity to participate in a mobile packing event for Feed My Starving Children. It proved to be a terrific experience in support of a wonderful cause.

I want to share our experience with you because I believe this would be an excellent volunteer project for a group of employees and/or volunteers from a nursing home or other healthcare community. There’s also the possibility that some of your residents could participate; I’ll talk about that a bit later.

What is Feed My Starving Children?

FMSC is a nonprofit Christian organization that provides nutritious meals to starving people in nearly 70 countries around the world. While they do have permanent meal-packing sites in a few cities, volunteers pack most of the meals at mobile events around the United States.

[Read more…] about Our Experience With Feed My Starving Children

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase by clicking on my links. 

Nursing home volunteers have big hearts. That’s why I like to share a variety of special opportunities to help you make a positive difference in the lives of other people. Today, let’s look at how you can give someone the priceless gift of sight by becoming an eye donor.

Why should I become a donor?

When you donate your eyes upon death, the primary use will be for corneal transplants. This helps to restore or improve vision for people with corneas damaged by disease, injury, or infection. (The cornea is the clear surface that covers the front of the eye.)

Eye banks might also retrieve tissue for medical research or to educate healthcare professionals. In a smaller number of cases, the sclera can also be transplanted. (The sclera is the white part of the eye.) At this time, it is not possible to transplant an entire eye.

[Read more…] about How To Give The Gift Of Sight

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase by clicking on my links. 

One afternoon I walked into the break room of the nursing home where I volunteer, and a new display on a table caught my eye. It included a canister along with a sign. “Donate your pop tabs here”, it said. “One tab provides one minute of chemotherapy for a child.”

Hmm. While this sounds like a wonderful program, I knew it couldn’t possibly be true. We quickly realized that a well-meaning employee had fallen for an urban legend that has gone around for decades.

There are a few different versions of the myth. One says the pop tabs provide free dialysis treatments. Another claims the tabs will be melted down to make a wheelchair for a child in need.

[Read more…] about The Truth About Pop Tabs

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase by clicking on my links. 

Each month I like to introduce opportunities for nursing home volunteers to expand their outreach. Some of the roles we’ve explored in the past include the volunteer ombudsman and the parish nurse. Today let’s consider if you might enjoy helping with grant writing at your facility.

Several years ago, I helped write a few grants at the nursing home where I now volunteer. Since I enjoy writing, I was excited about this new challenge.

And, yes, it did prove to be a challenge! I was surprised to discover the complexity of the whole grant writing process. But I also experienced the thrill and sense of accomplishment that comes when a grant is approved.

[Read more…] about How To Become A Volunteer Grant Writer

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase by clicking on my links. 

Many of you know that my son, Ryan, is a Peace Corps volunteer. Recently I noticed that nobody ever wears eyeglasses in the photos he shares. Naively, I asked him if he knows why the people in his country don’t require glasses like so many people do here in the United States.

Ryan quickly educated me on the fact that many of the people do need glasses. They simply can’t afford them.

He also shared stories about some of the children in his classroom and the learning difficulties they experience due to impaired vision. Sadly, most of these kids have common vision problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism that are easily corrected with eyeglasses.

[Read more…] about How To Host An Eyeglass Donation Drive