“Oh yummy! This is heaven in bar form!” I think as I shove another Theo’s Bread and Chocolate chocolate bar sample into my mouth. I’m at a yoga class benefit, but at the moment I am completely distracted by the chocolate tasting station. Delicious. Should be a requisite part of every volunteer activity. The chocolate certainly makes up for the fact that I spent the morning combing through bags and pulling jeans out of the dirty clothes to check the pockets so I could assemble a wrinkled... [Read more]

“I am going to a protest!” I’ve been saying that to anyone who will listen for a whole week. That’s right, mild mannered me at a protest. A real protest. I’m a rebel. Yup. I am going to protest! And it’s for a great cause! The protest is actually very tame. I am joining Best Friends Animal Society for a tabling event in front of a pet store called Barkworks in the Westside Pavilion mall.  You must understand that Barkworks, like many pet stores that sell animals across the US, is... [Read more]

Website: Project Angel Food Activity Types: Preparing meals, Delivering meals, Helping out in the office. Time Required: A few hours in the morning for cooking or a few hours in the afternoon to deliver meals. Skills Required: Cooking ability is a plus, but all are welcome. Attire: Bring a baseball hat or you will have to wear a hair net! Wear a short sleeve shirt in the kitchen or a shirt you can roll up over your elbows.  No earrings or jewelry that dangles. Close Toed Shoes. Tennis shoes recommended.... [Read more]

I can now with confidence cook for an entire professional football team.  Would I ever want to? Not really, but I now know interesting tid bits like: to make enough mashed potatoes for a group that size you would need three large sweaty men and one bathtub full of steaming hot water.  But I digress.  Here’s how I gained this precious knowledge…   Project Angel Food in Los Angeles, CA is an organization that delivers meals free of charge to those suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer and other... [Read more]

Website: Swap-O-Rama-Rama Activity types: Bring old clothes, use your skills as a seamstress or artists to make new garments, help the event run smoother by being a tour guide, or organize a Swap-O-Rama-Rama in your town Time Required: One afternoon Skilled Required: None, however, if you know how to sew you can be a featured artist at the event Attire: Anything, and I mean absolutely anything The Goods: You have to do Swap-O-Rama-Rama at least once cause I guarentee you will never find... [Read more]

  I am about to do something slightly ungrateful, definitely heinous, very uncomfortable, but in the end completely necessary: I’m going to blow the environmental whistle (or horn) on many of the non-profits I’ve been helping this year.  Let me explain why - I’ve been trying to complete 50 different volunteer activities before 2010  , which means I have volunteered with a lot of different non-profits in the last few months and unfortunately I have seen disappointing environmental... [Read more]

Swap-o-rama-rama is one of those perfectly-original-amazingly-convenient-eco-friendly volunteer activities that has many many pros: 1) You get rid of old t-shirts! I’ve been meaning to clean out my t-shirt drawer for months.  Thank God this event finally forced me to do it. I did manage to put off the cleaning until 30 minutes before the event, but I did eventually cut my t-shirt supply in half.  Each volunteer was asked to contribute a bag of unwanted shirts.  For the general public admission... [Read more]