{"id":864,"date":"2005-04-28T09:05:55","date_gmt":"2005-04-28T17:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/2005\/04\/28\/a-way-to-have-fun-while-helping\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:23:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T00:23:29","slug":"a-way-to-have-fun-while-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/2005\/04\/28\/a-way-to-have-fun-while-helping\/","title":{"rendered":"A Way to Have Fun While Helping"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I moved here last summer, I cast around for activities to keep me busy, since I had no job waiting. I learned of Hands On Bay Area<\/a>, an organization that works with non-profit groups to coordinate volunteer assistance. What appealed to me was the opportunity to choose from an array of activities without having to commit to just one. For example, I helped out at a community center that collects donations of food and clothes for impoverished people, and then I worked at a community rose garden hoeing weeds. Last week I sorted books and affixed labels for the Bring Me a Book Foundation<\/a>, and yesterday I conversed with people who are learning English as a second language. A volunteer can sign up for a project one time, or can commit to a number of project occurrences. <\/p>\n

I enjoyed the ESL facilitation very much; years ago I did this as a volunteer at Syracuse University and UT Austin with international students. It was a wonderful exchange of ideas, culture, and friendship. When I learned that the project leader would need to find a replacement, I decided to consider it. The next step is attending a two-hour training on the duties involved; after the training I’ll be able to lead projects that appeal to me. The Book Foundation and ESL class occur on Tuesdays, and I can participate in each on alternating weeks. The pleasure in these two projects is that one allows me to indulge my librarian nature and the other my inner teacher. <\/p>\n

Last fall I also underwent training to be a grief counselor at the Centre for Living With Dying<\/a>. I was intensely interested in the work. However, after December I took a leave. I knew that I’d be responding to death in my own life soon, and did not feel available to help others. While I hope to return to the Centre at some point, as they do profound and necessary work, I’ll wait until my heart indicates I’m ready. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying these other volunteer activities, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting new people who may, at some point, become friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I moved here last summer, I cast around for activities to keep me busy, since I had no job waiting. I learned of Hands On Bay Area, an organization that works with non-profit groups to coordinate volunteer assistance. What appealed to me was the opportunity to choose from an array of activities without having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regional","category-social-science"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10832,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions\/10832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathrynpetroharper.com\/mindfullife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}