I give in a few ways:

-tack on a coupon for the Food Bank at the grocery store (or buy a couple of things and put it in the bin)

-regularly donate what I don’t need to a collective that supports women and children leaving abusive homes

-I volunteer, not a huge amount but I would say I give 3 months out of every 2 years. the last place was a drop-in centre for women on the street.

And I am a very kind person who is willing to have a conversation with anyone, no matter how effed up or scruffy they are.

Being kind is an act of generosity in my world.

I give to the food bank, and I donate blood, and I’ll usually drop some change in the boxes you see by cash registers if I’m familiar with the charity.

I give to the food bank because I’ve been hungry and everyone should have food.

I give blood because I don’t see why I wouldn’t. I’m guarenteed ot stumble across a clinic somewhere at least once every six months and it only takes like 20 minutes. I’m type o negative and really. 20 minutes of my time and I maybe save someone’s life? I can’t come up with any excuse strong enough to not donate.

I appreciate organized charities. I respect the SPCA and the Toronto Humane Society and Salvation Army and so many other places. They do good work. I look at the loonie or twoonie in my hand and really what junk am I going to spend it on? Its better off going where its needed.

Elsa, your comments remind me of my Aquarian grandmother forbidding me to give to street beggars and showing me a newspaper article in which one who frequented the corner near my grandfather’s office died a multimillionaire. I still felt bad every time we passed one.

I have a Pices moon and I work in a “helping” profession, thus I’ve given the coat off my back to the same elderly street woman 3 times. The first 2 she traded them for something else she needed. She told me this on the third instance, when I inquired. She also pointed out that I had made no restrictions on the use of my prior gifts.

You Virgos are probably rolling your eyes at this point, but I disagree about giving to addicts being ineffective. It just requires a lot of patience. I’ve personally seen positive results, though it did take years. Some people need more help than others.

In the final analysis, I don’t think it matters how you give, only that you do.

I wonder how much of what I do makes a difference (probably Cappy being hard on myself). I’m a coach, and I have clients thanking me all the time about my work. I help them tell their stories.

Similarly, I’m telling a story on screen that will hopefully impact a large community.

I’m trying to volunteer in a children’s cancer center now - something I’ve always wanted to do and all the signs lately have pointed to my needing to be there soon. But there’s still some fear there, like “can I handle this?” - but the signs are just unmistakable.

I’m also wondering how to implement teaching/coaching writing in hospital environments - as a kind of healing tool - possibly with kids.

Beyond that, I’ve been asked by a lot of people to help heal - that it’s my calling, and I’m always questioning in what capacity. So I guess I’m not there yet.

Day to day, I’d just like to be available for small things - random acts of kindness and helping someone out. I look all the time for opportunities.

ha ha, Jilly!
Thanks Elsa, that made me happy. I like helping people.

I like that philosophy. Resources are limited, may as well give it to those who will make maximum use out of it. In a way, giving to those who waste gifts (use it for booze, drugs, etc.) is detrimental in the larger picture, because it means another person who would have used that gift (to better their life, help themself and in turn help others) is not given that chance.

Donating blood is a life-giving gift so I like to do that whenever possible. My favorite gift to give is time - and I like to give it to children. Mentoring, helping with homework, doing stuff together, being a friend to talk to, a support for a kid who needs one. I’ve always wanted to volunteer at an orphanage.

I try to donate blood at least once a year, twice when I can. They make it so easy; a van comes to my job site about twice a year so I eat while I work and spend lunch in the van. I walk dogs at the pound, although I think that is more for me than for the dogs! I give money to animal welfare groups occasionally.

As a Virgo and addict in recovery, I don’t think giving an addict money or anything they can sell is the best help you can give them. From my experience, it takes very little to keep an addict addicted and any excuse to keep using will do. At the same time, they’re your gifts so you decide where they go, ya know?

people who need it and will use it. (not waste it)
at least, that’s my general tendency

Goddess, that’s interesting. I’m trying to find the right field to donate time/help/skills. And I am beating myself up about being “choosy” - like I go from women’s shelter, to sick kids, to writing groups with cancer survivors. I’m afraid of burnout I think, and it’s hard to know how much I can handle without trying it - but I don’t want to get involved then pull out. (Oh the life of a libra moon).

So I’m glad you hit on this.

I’m wondering if the solution is to develop a skill that I can apply (and I have a few in mind) with different groups to serve them - I’m a writing coach and teacher, and also thinking about training in phoenix rising (a form of yoga therapy).

Hmm…

Thanks for helping me think this through some more!

I never thought about my giving in terms of my sign. But I just realized that I give to organizations that support families, the hungry and the poor (micro-lending).

These choices reflect my moon sign. Cancer loves to nurture, loves food and my moon sits in the 2nd house. I think this also reflects the fact that I am driven far more by my emotions than my logic. Although I think I have a good rationale for my choices and I have done some research into my picks.

Some of the posters mentioned their moon signs too. I’d be interested in discovering how their moon impacts their choice of charity!

I don’t give as much as I could and should. I would really like to give more of my time. But I’m not sure how. My job has unpredictable hours and I’m so drained that by the weekend, I sleep half of it away.

But I’ve been wanting to volunteer for something unrelated to my job for a long time. Of course, some might say all the extra time I spend at work is my donation to my agency and its mission is charity as I don’t get paid for it!

you’re welcome, spinner.

doublecappy, i worked in the social services for over a decade and did a lot of this on a paraprofessional level. i’ve worked in women’s shelters, with the “serverly persistently mentally ill” (usually schizophrenics but also bipolar, borderline, and people with dissociative identity disorder), homeless, suicide hotline, the whole gamut to some degree or another. i had planned on going to grad school to be a psychologist…of all this, it was detox specifically that burned me out because that population is a bitch to work with. many are immature, some are ill, depressed, sick, and angry. nobody gets put in a detox unit unless their life is pretty fucked up. for me, ultimately, i think it was because i didn’t feel like i was making a differece.

you’d be sitting outside, 3 or 4 in the morning, listening to somebody’s story. they all had stories and by then, we’d have done massive paperwork to admit them (20 page! questionnare if someone was coherent enough) - and usually doing a smoke break. they all smoke…there was an otherworldly quality about these people’s stories. you were constantly watching lives dissengrate before your eyes.

since 80% of people who quit using start up again, you see people fail repeatedly. we had regulars and you slowly, gradually watch people die. i mean, i’m sure some got it together. but you never saw that or knew it. you saw the people that were not making it.

you approach idea sounds like an interesting one, and probably a good way to spread it around. i’d say your gut is the best indictor of burnout, and make sure to take plenty of time off as you need. i also found the phrase “I didn’t create it and I can’t fix it.” to be of help…