What causes do you make time for?

If I ever leave this business, I would love to coach an inner-city baseball team. Baseball's the best game in the world, and a lot of kids just don't get the proper exposure and/or coaching to play it, and that saddens me.

Habitat for Humanity is a wonderful organization. Call them and get some exercise one day. The feeling from building someone's home is a wonderful feeling.

When I lived in the same city as my girlfriend, she got me in the habit of recycling and taking the bottles and papers and such to a shelter that used the proceeds for food and blankets and such. My girlfriend also volunteers at a different shelter sometimes. She is an extraordinarily beautiful woman inside and out, one of those people who won't accept the shittiness we live in, and it's motivating.

When in doubt, help children. Give them a chance. Show them that people can be kind, and that good things come to good people. If we educate and love children, we'll leave the world a better place than we found it. It starts with the children...

 

I donate money to several causes, most notably Golf Fights Cancer, a charity founded by the former director of the Deutsche Bank Championship, who lost his mother to cancer.

I also coach my son's AYSO team (see avatar) and will coach my daughter's team next year. My wife's on the region board for the second straight year and both of us also volunteer somewhat at my son's private HS, although parents are required to contribute so many "service hours."

Her's are helping coach the Academic Decathlon team, since the topic this year is the Civil War and she's a freakin' witch on that subject. Mine's helping out on Vegas Night and supplying various golf tournament tickets as door prizes.

Considering we both work two jobs and I commute 120 miles a day to mine, that's not bad. It's just a matter of finding something you're passionate about and finding blocks of time to help out. Speaking from experience, that last part is easier said than done with the average sports writers/deskie's schedule.

 

I'm ashamed I don't do ... well, anything, other than give some money here and there.

I have no time in the fall and winter, but I'd like to be a contributing member of society this spring when my schedule isn't as bad. How, I have no idea since I just moved here a month ago.

 

I volunteer for some political stuff, and in my last town coached youth hockey.

Here, I haven't done anything in a while. Girl volunteers at the Humane Society.

 

I buy Nugget subscriptions for people that piss me off.

 

Alzheimer's and MS research, which are personal.
Amnesty International and the ACLU.

 

I'm a volunteer tutor for an adult literacy program. I meet with a guy twice a week for about two hours each time.

I tried Big Brothers last spring. I was disappointed. I had this grand illusion of being this great big brother who took his little brother to do cool things, like meet college baseball players and get autographs of pro athletes. They paired me with a kid whose parents don't speak a lick of English. The kid told me he and his family crossed the border illegally and later left L.A. for here because someone was trying to kill his father. Apparently, they succeeded in killing his uncle.

Anyway, the organization required me to meet with him during a two-hour window after school. They resisted when I said I'd like to meet with him away from the school, where I somehow took over the job of supervising all the kids on the playground during my two hours.

Like Fenian, I'm also an Amnesty International and ACLU member.

Just make sure that you start small. You can always add more. But you don't want to promise lots and then deliver very little.

As for animals, I actually prefer saving the lives of humans. But I'm biased, having been a human for quite some time now.

 

Like F_B, I hedge my bets with help to Alzheimer's research. Breast Cancer. Food Bank here in the city, and a couple of local programs for the homeless. ACLU. Amnesty. Reporters Without Borders. Doctors, likewise borderless. At year's end, depending on the year my wife and I have had, I write checks to all those, and then several more charities on a rotating basis. We try to give between 5% and 10% of what we earn annually in this manner.

All of which is just money, not time.

When the opportunity presents, we'll go out and bang nails for Habitat, or other local home programs.

I spend the majority of my volunteer time working on behalf of several programs through the PEN American Center, which is a human rights organization founded by literary types. We do adult literacy work, but mostly it's freedom of expression stuff - trying to get, and keep, writers and editors around the world out of jail; trying to keep the NSA out of your local library; trying to prevent the banning of books and so forth.

 

The human fund

 

I wondered recently whether there are too many organizations and causes out there. All of them are great, but it would be nice to pool resources and causes under one roof and tackle a lot of issues that way. After all, there are administrative and legal costs that suck some of the charity money away from the ultimate cause. By the way, you should check on the One Campaign: http://www.one.org/

 

i spunked the monkey into a cup once.