I am happy to endorse these volunteer programs that I’ve participated in... USA: Tutoring children. Although I generally prefer secular programs (without religious agenda), this tutoring program sponsored by the Fourth Presbyterian Church for underprivileged children in Chicago is renowned. I loved this work. If you’d like to check out tutoring, surely there are programs like this in every large city. Another program for the underprivileged is Jobs For Youth, which provides GED services and job training and placement. Many volunteers are needed and the work definitely fosters a sense of purpose and fulfillment. While a volunteer here, I was hired to run the jobs side of the agency. New York City also has a Jobs For Youth, and surely there are similar programs in every major city. Ethiopia: One of the few remaining tribal areas of the world is in southwestern Ethiopia. In such areas, common birth defects such as cleft palate and “club foot” don’t get the attention of large charity organizations (such as “Smile Train,” for example) because they are so far off the beaten path. Transportation alone to these areas is difficult and expensive. International Children’s Outreach Network (ICON) is a tiny outfit that does enormous work, facilitating the correction of birth defects and other disorders as well as treatment for the many burn injuries children sustain by falling into open cooking fires. Dell Russell operates this charity by personally donating all administrative expenses, so that every penny donated goes to the work itself. If you want to donate to charity and know it really did some good besides paying for postage on fundraising letters, this is it! You’d be surprised how far so little goes. My short volunteer stint with ICON was by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Some of my travel writing references this work, as do a couple of my slideshows. (Password for the slideshows appears in the signature line of all my emails—so email me if you need to.) Peru: Few places on the globe can compete with the beauty of the majestic Andes Mountains, site of this secular mission that provides medical care to the indigent in a hospital setting. Volunteers (physicians, nurses and others, medically trained or not) contribute their time as well as their own transportation, lodging & meals. Here’s a full descriptive narrative of the program, and here’s the website of the project. ~~~~~~ Volunteer work requires a certain mental outlook. If you imagine you can make a dent in the world’s problems, you’ll quickly become discouraged. But there is no greater feeling in the world than to know you brought joy into one life, whether near or far—to know one person’s life was changed forever, because you lived, and acted. Or two person’s lives. Or maybe even a dozen or a hundred. I have seen faces that have perhaps never, ever smiled before, become joyfully radiant. It takes so little of our own abundance to make that happen (in many locales). And we can make it happen within walking distance of where we live, or on the other side of the globe. Truly there is no easier way to find happiness for ourselves than to take it to others. Back to Biography

I am happy to endorse these volunteer

programs that I’ve participated in...

USA: Tutoring children. Although I generally prefer secular programs (without religious agenda), this tutoring program sponsored by the Fourth Presbyterian Church for underprivileged children in Chicago is renowned. I loved this work. If you’d like to check out tutoring, surely there are programs like this in every large city.

Another program for the underprivileged is Jobs For Youth, which provides GED services and job training and placement. Many volunteers are needed and the work definitely fosters a sense of purpose and fulfillment. While a volunteer here, I was hired to run the jobs side of the agency. New York City also has a Jobs For Youth, and surely there are similar programs in every major city.

Ethiopia: One of the few remaining tribal areas of the world is in southwestern Ethiopia. In such areas, common birth defects such as cleft palate and “club foot” don’t get the attention of large charity organizations (such as “Smile Train,” for example) because they are so far off the beaten path. Transportation alone to these areas is difficult and expensive. International Children’s Outreach Network (ICON) is a tiny outfit that does enormous work, facilitating the correction of birth defects and other disorders as well as treatment for the many burn injuries children sustain by falling into open cooking fires. Dell Russell operates this charity by personally donating all administrative expenses, so that every penny donated goes to the work itself. If you want to donate to charity and know it really did some good besides paying for postage on fundraising letters, this is it! You’d be surprised how far so little goes. My short volunteer stint with ICON was by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Some of my travel writing references this work, as do a couple of my slideshows. (Password for the slideshows appears in the signature line of all my emails—so email me if you need to.)

Peru: Few places on the globe can compete with the beauty of the majestic Andes Mountains, site of this secular mission that provides medical care to the indigent in a hospital setting. Volunteers (physicians, nurses and others, medically trained or not) contribute their time as well as their own transportation, lodging & meals. Here’s a full descriptive narrative of the program, and here’s the website of the project.

~~~~~~

Volunteer work requires a certain mental outlook. If you imagine you can make a dent in the world’s problems, you’ll quickly become discouraged. But there is no greater feeling in the world than to know you brought joy into one life, whether near or far—to know one person’s life was changed forever, because you lived, and acted. Or two person’s lives. Or maybe even a dozen or a hundred. I have seen faces that have perhaps never, ever smiled before, become joyfully radiant. It takes so little of our own abundance to make that happen (in many locales). And we can make it happen within walking distance of where we live, or on the other side of the globe. Truly there is no easier way to find happiness for ourselves than to take it to others.

Back to Biography