G is for...

is for

Getting Involved!

Getting involved might seem like it would take a whole world of effort and time.   Somethings maybe you feel  don't have to much to spare of at the moment.   But really it couldn't be easier.  

Let's see what can you do to help out a local school or classroom?

If you are one of those lucky people who has the time you can always go to your local school and volunteer.  See if the school has a local mentoring program. Even if you aren't the CEO of a major corporation  that doesn't mean you don't have life experiences that you can share.  Maybe you can help high school students practice real life skills, such as job interviews or how to balance a household budget.  You can always volunteer to help in the library or help read to smaller ones in the classroom, or in after school tutoring programs.  

Maybe you have some extra time, but you aren't too sure you want to get involved in such a hands on way? (maybe you don't have any school age children at home anymore and feel kind of awkward just walking into a school and being involved with other peoples  children?)  Why not start a local collection box for Box Tops or Labels for Education?  See if other people in your neighborhood might want to help too.  Set up some boxes at your local church or activity center and once a month take what you have collected and drop it off at a local school.   Really quite simple.   A lot of people use the products these items are found on and have no where in particular to send them to.  

Feeling a bit more adventurous?  Go to your local school office and find out if there are supplies that the teachers might need.  Pencils, notebooks, etc.  Then see what you can find.  Lots of people have extra stuff lying around the house that can be donated to help ease the cost of teacher funded classrooms. Maybe make a contest out of it...whoever donates an item gets their name put in a drawing for a gift card to a local restaurant or maybe free movie tickets.  

Want to help but maybe you don't have that much extra time?  or maybe you just aren't that available to interact with that many people?  Set aside a box in your own home. Once a month go through the items in your pantry and clip the Box Tops and Labels that you find.  Then maybe once a year take the box and drop it off at a local school.  Even one person or household can make a difference.  If you have a printer Labels for Education every so often offers sheets to stick your labels to that add bonus points for a school to earn.  Some can be found in local coupon inserts, but most of the time you can also print them online.  Print some out and drop them off.  Remember every little bit helps. 

Also a lot of groups run promotions were if you "like" them on Facebook they donate a certain amount for every person to a local school oriented charity.  That's about 2 seconds to press a button and you've helped.  You've Gotten Involved!!

Or maybe you want to help out at school, but don't have the time?  Tons of parents want to help but need to be finger printed and/or background checked to help out.  Sometimes they have to pay for these things to be done and don't have the money to do it.  Maybe you do have the money to pay for fingerprinting but don't have the time to go to the school and help out.  Why not go to the school and offer to pay for  a parent to get ok'd to help out.  

Maybe you don't buy items with Box Tops, maybe you don't have a printer.   (I know until recently I didn't have a printer either)  Maybe for reasons of your own you don't want to follow certain groups or "like" them on Facebook.  Simply get the word out.  You don't always have to post a link on Facebook.  Before the Internet there were still school programs.  Just simply tell someone about one you've heard about.  Get the word out there.  A lot of people don't realize that schools are underfunded, that teachers are stocking their own classrooms out of their own wallets.  Some do, but don't know how they can help. Something you might not be able to do, they might, they just don't know about it.

So that's it Get Involved! Have some great ideas that I haven't mentioned?  Feel free to share! 

This post is part of The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2012