Author: beinggoode

I'm a writer working in corporate responsibility in Los Angeles. Trying to figure out how to use my limited resources to make the most impact to the issues that matter to me, how to be the smartest giver possible.

Weekly Check-In

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I’m back to job hunting as my current contract is almost up. This is stressful and time consuming. I hope this has a positive outcome but really I think there has to be a better process than this. The stress also comes from the financial side. A reason the Purple State Challenge has lagged. I’m not making very much now with an uncertain future and I haven’t been able to donate as much as I’d like. But I’m lucky to have an optimistic personality so I believe things will get better.

Volunteering

  • 4 hours – Crisis Text Line

Charitable Giving

Personal Kindness

  • I get compliments sometimes when I wear certain dresses or outfits to work and I did this week for a particular dress. With every compliment I received I tried to make sure I returned one. I used the compliments not just to feel confident in my appearance but as a reminder that it’s easy to compliment others. Pay it forward. I feel like I’ll now think of this dress as the pay a compliment dress.

Self Care

  • I’ve been focusing on my knitting. I have little projects that allow me to get that great feeling of control and completion that’s hard to find elsewhere. Plus I get pretty things that I donate or add to my wardrobe. It’s always fun to get a compliment and you can reply “Thanks, I made it”
  • More cleaning and errand running. Again focusing on what’s in my control to accomplish. I’m also trying to focus on doing things now that I won’t want to do once I have my fancy new job.

How’d you do this week?

Purple State Challenge – Virginia

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#PurpleStateChallenge

Angel Flight MidAtlantic

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Mission: 

“Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic (AFMA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization utilizing over 550 volunteer pilots to transport patients to specialized medical care. We are a coordinating service matching volunteer pilots willing to donate their time and aircraft to the individuals in need.”

Why I choose this group:

 

There are a couple of things that have been in the news lately – air travel and healthcare – so I thought this was pretty topical. Jimmy Kimmel is trending with the story of his newborn son and his statements that money shouldn’t effect care. I completely agree and I know most people do, it’s just hard to navigate the politics of making that happen. I know we can all feel powerless and unable to help sometimes. And that’s why I picked Angel Flight MA – it’s about people sharing their skills to help just a little bit. These pilots volunteer their time to get people to the care they need. It’s everyday people sharing their skills to make a big impact in someone else’s life.

We all have unique skills that we can use to make our communities better. These pilots are taking action with their skills and that is so inspiring to me. You don’t have to be a doctor or a lawyer to help. Everyone can contribute.

 

Check them out:

You can donate here –

Website |Angel Flight MidAtlantic

Facebook |@Angelflightma Twitter | @AngelFlightMA

Weekly Check-In

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A lot has been going on and time just feels like it’s flying by!

This week I reached level 4 as a Crisis Text Line counselor!! Levels are based on the number of conversations you’ve completed and there are 5 levels. I’m so proud of myself and feel amazing knowing I’ve been able to help so many people. I had some ice cream to celebrate.

Volunteering

  • 4 hours – Crisis Text Line

Charitable Giving

  • $0

Personal Kindness

  • There are a few interns at my department at work and I try to go out of my way to talk to them and check in with them about how their work is going. It takes a village to teach and I want the company I work for to be open to the next generation.

Self Care

  • I worked on some knitting this weekend. I love just sitting on the couch watching something on tv and knitting away. It’s so relaxing. I do about 50/50 knitting things for my friends and I and knitting for donation.

 

How’d you do this week?

Do-Gooder Guilt

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I’ve seen this State Farm commercial for a few weeks now and I think it’s very interesting –

The man in the clip goes about his day and is inundated by causes – they’re on transit ads, social media, on the news, everywhere he looks. There is even a polar bear in an alley for some reason. All these things begin to follow him around while he’s getting dinner with friends, commuting, or exercising. These issues follow him around like a black cloud until he decides to volunteer for one of them. “You can lift the weight of caring by doing.” Is it’s final message (well it’s real final message is buy State Farm Insurance).

Corporations have a long history of doing good in order to build their brand and look good as a company, not necessarily altruistic motivations. And because of this there are a lot of donations to charity and a lot of employee volunteer hours spent (often altruistically on a personal level).

The question is – does motivation matter? Does it matter if we’re volunteering because we feel guilty, because we truly care, because our employer encourages it and we want to get ahead in our job, because we care about how we are perceived, because we need to feel better about ourselves, because we want to better ourselves, because a celebrity we like supports a cause, because we get a perk or swag, or because some other because?

Personally I think some of those “because”s make bad volunteers. They move the priority and focus away from the act of helping. While I don’t think volunteering needs to be completely altruistic, I do think it should be the major reason. I volunteer for many reasons and sometimes the perks I receive are fantastic and I know I’ve grown and developed skills that benefit me personally. I also tell people that if they’re feeling down about an issue that volunteering with like minded people is great for their mental healthcare. But if you’re volunteering because you’ve been made to feel guilty by an ad on your commute I don’t think you’re going to be the best volunteer and I wonder if you’ll even really get any of the other benefits of volunteering.

This commercial makes me feel very uneasy. It’s so negative. The message is there are so many things wrong with the world instead of look what we all can do, and are doing, to make the world a better place. I’m an optimistic person by nature so maybe this ad wasn’t meant for me.

 

What do you think about the ad? Is it effective? Are guilty volunteers good volunteers?

Weekly Check-In

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Okay I blinked and the weekend was over and I realized I hadn’t checked in. So here we go.

Volunteering

  • 4 hours – Crisis Text Line

Charitable Giving

  • $25 – Orange Duffel Bag Initiative

Personal Kindness

  • It was my friend’s birthday and even though we aren’t 12 anymore I decided to make her a homemade gift. She loved it. Sometimes the effort really matters

Self Care

  • Still spring cleaning. I’m slowly starting to see an overall cleaner apartment. Good things take time.
  • Spending time with my awesome friends, celebrating their good fortune has been really fun this week.

How’d you do this week?

Purple State Challenge – Georgia

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#PurpleStateChallenge

 

Orange Duffel Bag Initiative

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Mission: 

“Orange Duffel Bag Initiative, a 501c3, provides at-risk teens and young adults programs proven to improve their education success, ongoing advocacy, support to their guardians and caring adults, and service to the community in a spirit of offering hope and positive systemic change.”

Why I choose this group:

This comes from another search of my company’s internal website. What drew me to it was that it’s another example of a single person who rally’s people together to change their community from within.

I have worked with At-risk youth in my own community and one thing I’ve learned is that they don’t need pity or help, they need to be engaged and empowered. These are very powerful people who’ve had that power pushed down or brushed aside. I appreciate that The Orange Duffel Initiative sees that as well and addresses the real needs of those they serve.

 

Check them out:

You can donate here –

Website |Orange Duffel Bag Initiative

Facebook |@OrangeDuffelBagInitiative Twitter | @ODBInitiative

Weekly Check-In

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Happy Transgender Day of Visibility! I celebrated by going to a talk that my work put on to learn more about issues Transgender people deal with. I hope you celebrate today and find out how to see a brighter future for Transgender people.

Volunteering

  • 4 hours – Crisis Text Line

Charitable Giving

  • $0 – Due to end of the month budgetariy restraints there was no purple state donation this week. But stay tuned because my list of awesome organizations is growing!

Personal Kindness

  • I met a lot of new people at work this week. I tried my best to just listen to what they are saying. A lot of times in a professional setting you’re waiting to answer or worried about what you’re going to say or nervous if this person with a fancy title will like you. I think just listening and smiling is a good way to be kind.

Self Care

  • I took some time to do spring cleaning. It feels so nice to sit and enjoy a clean living room. That was also one of my New Year’s resolutions to clean my apartment for myself and not just for visitors.
  • It’s been windy and allergy chaos lately so I’ve been doing some extra resting and staying inside. Frustrating when you just want to go outside and enjoy but better in the long run to take care of yourself.

 

How’d you do this week? How are you celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility?

Weekly Check-In

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The weather has been so beautiful so I’ve been trying to enjoy it. Taking time to stand in the sun (with sunscreen)!

Volunteering

  • 0 – I had to bow out of my Crisis Text Line shift for some self care. Hopefully I can make it up this weekend.

Charitable Giving

  • $25 Neighborhood Outreach Connection

Personal Kindness

  • I saw a beauty product online that was on sale so I texted it to my friend. It doesn’t matter if they bought it or not, the point is I was thinking of them and let them know that.

Self Care

  • I went out to a state park to see the wildflowers. It was a bit of a drive and it took up most of the day but it was so worth it.
  • I’m back to running and it feels amazing. All that time in nature has been very missed.

 

How’d you do this week?

Purple State Challenge – South Carolina

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#PurpleStateChallenge

I found this organization by doing a search of my company’s matching donation portal. Someone along the way discovered this and went through the steps to have it approved for matching by our company. A great way to discover things.

Neighborhood Outreach Connection

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Mission: 

“To help all individuals in the community achieve the “American Dream” – economic independence, and personal fulfillment.”

Why I choose this group:

 

What I love about this group is that it started with just one person noticing a problem in his own community and taking action. They saw the poverty right along side the wealth in Hilton Head Island, a resort town that I used to vacation in with my family, and they did something about it.

I also appreciate that they are working towards eliminating poverty at it’s roots. They are looking at the causes and trying to heal and improve the community at the base. It’s a smart and thoughtful approach.

Check them out:

You can donate here –

Website |Neighborhood Outreach Connection

Facebook |@NeighborhoodOutreachConnection Twitter | @noc_sc

Weekly Check-In

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It was my birthday this week. Between the celebrating and the time change this week flew by.

Volunteering

  • 4 hour Crisis Text Line

Charitable Giving

  • $0 – I did some research and have some great organizations coming up.

Personal Kindness

  • When you have an event – a birthday or something like that, you’re on the receiving end of kindness. So you have to make extra efforts to be kind to others. My friend is getting married and has been going through the stresses of pre-wedding planning. I was able to be there to hear her vent about the million things she needs to get done and her family and friends not being able to help. Sometimes we just need to vent.

Self Care

  • Birthday celebrations! Great food, great company, great times. My friends got me great gifts that were nice and personalized. I collected my free birthday things from various places. It was lovely.

How’d you do this week?