There may be a volunteer center or group in your city that allows people, perhaps with the family, to volunteer for a few hours on a weekend. Consider it time to bond with your family or reach out to others.
I ran such programs years ago and created 14 projects per month (most leaders had 2-3) for the organization. I created Animal Projects and we “turned out” rescued Greyhounds on Sundays, socialized abandoned cats on Saturdays, helped with animals in domestic violence situations, and I helped spay/neuter over 2,000 feral cats.
Training and supervising volunteers and keeping the project alive were my goals. One of the gods of pet-dom is the SFSPCA and they even taped my training in a video with Snowflake the Wonder Cat (a bean bag cat so the volunteers knew how much muscle control an anesthetized cat has).
Plant trees. Clean up a park. Read books to kids at the local library. Show what you know about math and science at a local school. Teach an adult how to read. Build a home for a needy family. It’ll make you feel better about you.
It’s not just about writing a check. It’s getting your hands dirty and feeling you and your family have accomplished something at the end of the day. Start out, then become a volunteer leader and multiply your results. You’ll still be on the job but have a willing and eager team as well. Try it. Dee
Cooking with Dee 