Compassionate Homes
Consider these ways for you and your family to live out compassion on a daily basis.
Get involved at church
The majority of church goers do not participate in the day to day running of their home church. But there are countless ways to get involved at church. You can join the choir, teach Sunday School, volunteer with the youth or children, help in the nursery, clean the building, mow the lawn, shovel snow, maintain the property/parsonage, lead music, volunteer in the church office, play the piano, run sound, be a greeter, count the offering, or be an usher. Caring about your church shows and makes it more inviting to those on the outside.
Meet your neighbors
The first step in getting involved in the world around you is to involve yourself in the lives of the people nearest you. Get to know your neighbors. Make a point of saying hello. Find something you have in common and strike up a conversation. Taking the time to build a relationship will open doors. Only by knowing your neighbors can you know how to help them. Remember, you can only help as much as they will allow, but you can always pray.
Buy Fair Trade
Buying fair trade products is an easy way to positively impact lives around the globe. Money spent on fair trade merchandise is money that goes back to the farmers, producers, and their communities in developing countries. Look for these labels when shopping:
Vote
Help get the government involved in changing lives for the better. The government exists to facilitate the lives of its citizens. As a citizen, it is your responsibility to let the government know what you believe needs to be done. Make your voice heard. Pay attention to elections and what the candidates endorse. Write letters to government officials. Often times, the only thing standing in the way of positive change is thinking it can’t be done.
Give your time
There are many ways to make a difference without opening your wallet.
- Mentor — Taking the time to really get to know someone so that you might help them through a difficult time can be very rewarding. Look for opportunities to mentor at a local school, with a newly immigrated family, with Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
- Shelters — Look up local shelters and ask how best you can assist them. Take an evening once a week or month and dedicate it to work at the shelter.
- Foster Kids — This is a big responsibility and a huge need at the same time. Be sure you are well informed of all fostering entails before you start. Contact your local government office that handles foster cases, often the county department of health and human services, for foster care guidelines. Though it may be a lot to take on, it is also a chance to give a child a warm, safe, loving environment when they desperately need it.
- Tutor — Set up after school tutoring at your church. Go to a local elementary, junior high, high school, or university and volunteer as a tutor.
- Soup Kitchen — Volunteer at a soup kitchen. They can always use help cooking, cleaning, and serving. Search the web to find one in your area.
- Retirement Home — Take a few hours to spend some quality time with the residents of your local retirement home. The willingness to just listen and be there can make all the difference in the world.
Give what you have
Take a good look at what you have, and give of that.
- Clothes Banks — Look through your closet and weed out all those gently used clothes you just do not wear. Think about what you really need. Your excess could be another’s essential.
- Food Bank — Give a little or a lot, every bit helps. Check with your local food bank before donating perishable items. If you work in the food industry, you may have access to large amounts of food that are no longer saleable but are still good.
- Crisis Care Kits — NCM provides CCKs to ensure that people around the world have basic necessities when their lives are turned upside down by a natural disaster. With warehouses that keep a constant supply ready to be shipped at a moments notice, you do not have to wait for a disaster to get involved.
- School Pal Paks — SPPs are a great way to help children around the world and to get your kids involved as they help collect the needed items. A Pal Pak consists of the essentials for a student starting a new school year.
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