Choosing to contribute to your community can be very rewarding and an extremely personal choice in how you decide to do it. However, for many of us, we find ourselves ever busier even though we have all the technology that we thought would give us more time. So how can we contribute to our community with our limited time and sometimes, resources. Here are some things, that knowing, can help motivate you to contribute, withstanding the roadblocks of life (time & resources) getting in the way.
*Who would you like to help?
Choosing who you want to help will always make it easier to contribute. What I mean is that it would motivate me to serve in an area that I am personally interested in. Also, maybe I want to choose something in an area that I want to learn more about. For example, volunteering at the Library if I loved literature or volunteering with Habitat for Humanity if I wanted to learn more about building.
*How often do you want to commit to these activities?
Contributing to your community can seem daunting at first, but knowing what frequency you are willing to contribute can take the edge off. Maybe you have a schedule that is in flux and can't commit to something on a regular basis. In that case you can look for opportunities that occur once or sporadically. However, if you prefer opportunities that occur regularly, there are many advantages. Some include making new friends or seeing a project through from start to finish. These can be very rewarding and contribute richly to your personal growth.
*What kind of impact do you want to have?
This may be a hard question to answer sometimes, or maybe a lot of the time. Most of us don't understand what the impact that the small graces we give each other does for the human spirit. However, you want to feel rewarded personally by contributing to your community and for some that comes in knowing how many people they directly impacted. For instance, how much money did they raise or how many people did they feed. For others, the impact doesn't need to be as clearly marked. For these people maybe just picking up litter in their neighborhood is the reward their looking for.
Answering these few questions can help motivate anyone into contributing to their community. Mostly, I believe, because contributing becomes highly personal to each individual. When contributing to your community in this manner, individuals are fulfilled and enriched at a much higher level and much more likely to continue their service to others.
Remember, contributing to your community can be a small gesture of goodwill and patience as much as it is contributing in a "formal' way.
Here are some local organizations you may be interested in....
Haven House, https://www.havenhouseel.org/about_us.php
Greater Lansing Food Bank, https://greaterlansingfoodbank.org/
East Lansing Public Library, https://www.elpl.org/
The Nyaka AIDS Orphan Program, https://www.nyakaschool.org/