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Columnist Laura Ng writes weekly about the world of volunteering.Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri is introducing two new ways to become involved in the life of a child. The Couples for Kids and Fifty and Better programs work to create valuable partnerships with those who might not otherwise imagine themselves fitting into the traditional mentoring model. Couples for Kids encourages married couples to enrich their lives by spending time together while giving a child the gift of friendship. The program pairs couples with a child in a unique friendship that can help to broaden the life of a child and provide much needed guidance and support. …
I must confess that I have never donated a cent to a conservative Christian organization. Regardless of the services they provide their local communities, I've simply had a hard time supporting organizations with views that are so fundamentally different from my own. I would define myself as a moderate Republican, but there is nothing moderate about my views on gay marriage and gay rights in general. Although I'm not necessarily proud of this, I immediately sever ties with those who are anti-gay. I suppose I am fiercely protective of my gay friends in a "Mama Grizzly" sort of way. I had the …
As someone who has always volunteered all year, I used to be highly skeptical of the concept of holiday-specific volunteering. Even as a child, I always wondered what makes holiday volunteering or holiday charity more meaningful compared to every other time of the year. There are hungry people the other eleven months of the year; there are sick children the other eleven months of the year. Being a child, and then later a student and then finally an under-employed twenty-something always left me with plenty of time to schedule my interests accordingly. And of course, during the worst years of …
Three years ago, my old station wagon "ceased" on me. That was what the mechanics said, anyway: the engine had simply "ceased." It wasn't a major surprise—I had dragged the poor car with me all across the country, from Washington, DC to Iowa to New Orleans to its final resting place of Boston. No, I wasn't surprised at all, but I was certainly frustrated. What was I going to do? How would I transport myself anywhere? I didn't live near a bus station or subway. I kept the car in our parking lot for weeks, not knowing what to do with its remains. I finally called some towing companies, and the …
Like many people, I hate long lines. I'm impatient, I'm tempted to be rude, and I get especially frustrated when there's somewhere else I need to be (such as getting to work by 9 a.m.). I found myself being held up at Dierberg's one morning, and it was all I could do to not sigh. As the cashier and the customer discussed the bill for what seemed to take forever, my frustration grew to even higher levels. The customer—a well-dressed, middle-aged woman—was holding an EBT card, and the cashier was explaining that not all of her items qualified for food stamp purchases. "I guess I made a mistake…
November is National Adoption Month and one St. Louis nonprofit stands out for providing many resources to foster and adoptive families. Founded in 1989, the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition recruits families for children who are currently in foster care. According to Chapin Hall, a policy research center at the University of Chicago, nearly 60 percent of males who age out of foster care end up in jail and almost a quarter end up homeless. The young women who age out of foster care are much more likely to end up pregnant as teenagers, and both genders are much less likely to go to college or …
Not too long ago, I found myself in a dark, though maybe not clinical, depression. Like many others, I wasn't finding sustainable employment. The outlook was frightening: Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo Jobs—there were no openings in sight as jobs disappeared while my gigantic student loans were certainly not disappearing. Every once in a while, I would get that elusive call for an interview. And then, when they rejected me, my self-esteem would drop even lower. It seemed like no matter what I did, it always turned out to be the wrong decision. I just couldn't seem to catch a break. After some …
