Helping Others
Sometimes Without Spending a Dime

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."
—Aesop

Surprised, perhaps, to find a post here about helping others? Sure, we know that lending a hand where needed/wanted is thoughtful and humane, but does such behavior relate in any way to "mellow" aging? I suggest that it does, at least for the many who find that generous and helpful words/deeds sometimes cheer themselves a bit, as well.

True, the main point of helping others is not to make ourselves feel better, but this kind of "win-win" can be pretty hard to resist. And when we're paying attention, many ways to lend a hand sometimes present themselves.

One of those involves simply clicking a mouse...while spending little, if any, money. In so doing, we follow the wise counsel of Teddy Roosevelt when he suggested that we simply do what we can right where we are and with whatever we have at hand.

Helping Others with Your "Mouse"

If your computer (rather than your cell phone) brought you here, one thing you likely do have "at hand" is a mouse. With that hairless version, you can—perhaps already do—help provide food and other assistance to people and/or animals in need. If you're clicking only, as opposed to clicking and occasionally purchasing/donating, that assistance won’t cost you a dime. 

It will, however, cost the minutes you choose to give, and time may be a precious and diminishing commodity for some of us. But another diminishing commodity for all too many is food—as supply chains become increasingly mangled by wars, natural disasters (including pandemics), and the complexities and inequities of post-harvest storage, transport, and distribution.
 Here are a few ways we can help...

   Clicking Sites at Greater Good

Already, you may be helping individuals/groups address hunger, shelter, and other pressing needs. For that, the World thanks you. As an "encore," please consider clicking daily at the Greater Good sites, where you'll find the Hunger Site (thehungersite.com), the Animal Rescue Site, the Breast Cancer Site, the Veterans Site, the Alzheimer's Site, and the Autism Site, among others.  

To do such clicking takes little time (and no funds), yet can pay off wonderfully when thousands or even millions of us choose to contribute that small amount of time.  

   Playing the Free-Rice Game

Here's another way to give that also costs nothing. Use your mouse-hand and your head/heart to play a game at Free Rice (freerice.com).

For each correct answer, the game “pays” you 10 grains of rice. So, if you answer 30 questions, for example, your winnings total 300 grains. When cooked they look like the rice in the small bowl to the left—one heaping tablespoon, plus slight overage. (Yup, I checked it out.)

If you ramp-up the number of questions, you can make an even greater difference to people living in challenging and sometimes heart-rending circumstances.

 Although the site has changed somewhat since my first writing, it looks as though you may play as often and as long as you wish.

 

To do shelter animals a similar favor, hop on over to freekibble.com, where a single answer (all you’re allowed) to each of a few questions earns kibble, whether your answer be correct or false. Answer another question to provide kitty litter. When the fourth link appears, clicking it will take you to a site allowing you to help clean up the oceans with another click.

   Chipping in on Micro-Loans and/or Grants

Still here? Then, perhaps you'd allow me a quick plug for Kiva, an innovative micro-lending program. Although Kiva isn't completely free, in the sense that you do lend money at a certain risk, my own longish experience as a lender suggests that most borrowers fully repay their loans.

If you like the idea of giving a boost to a small-scale entrepreneur (just one example) overseas or in the USA, perhaps you might lend 25 bucks now and then to a Kiva borrower. 

Another site you might visit is Benevolent.net, which uses a form of crowd-funding to provide grants to people for verified purposes: small farms/businesses, education aids, work clothing, transportation, and so on. When we give even 10 or 20 dollars, those can add up very nicely for people trying to build better lives for themselves and (frequently) their families.

So, there they are, just a few easy and/or free or inexpensive ways we can help others. Although few of us (if any) can "save the world" on our own, each of us can make a difference in our separate ways. And together, we may help individuals and groups in life-changing ways. See you at the "cash register"?  ;-)

Home        Contact        Disclaimer        Privacy        Site Map

 
Copyright 2014-2024. Lynda Edwards. All rights reserved.