Diaries relating to volunteerism back through the early mists of DailyKos time have used tags we can link onto, recognizing that people have always volunteered at their own grassroots: to give back to community, to offer from each by ability and to each by need (we all need somebody to lean on), and to sustain their own hope, courage, fellowship, and deepened appreciation of how simple as much as complex ordinary life gets, especially in tough times.
And sustaining us, too, I hope. This diary explores two tags, with more on into the future if readers find them worthwhile.
The Volunteerism tag lists 75 diaries to date since 2007, with some NOLA Lower Ninth Ward diaries in the mix, including our urban farm school won the Fresh 1% grant competition! (for background, see nola.com’s From blighted lots to flourishing mini-farms: The Lower 9th Ward's 'Garden on Mars', 2016). Among the others: ■ I am sorry. I can't be a volunteer that starts with telling of the Tennesse-based Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps and goes in an unexpected direction ■ an aunt Inspired by the determined initiative of her teen nephew and his friends on behalf of a disabled elderly neighbor ■ blunt speaking about the limits of the blogosphere ■ still-useful 2012 notes on Making Informed Choices [about charitable giving and volunteerism] ■ Ocikiyap diaries by Aji (a memorial tribute in the footsteps of Eagle Wings Woman), nomandates and Onomastic ■ 2015 coding America's civic tech ■ the November 2016 I got tired of crying, so here's what I did yesterday ■ and more up through today.
In resonance with this climate-stricken year, another tag is the NOLA-GulfBlogathon of 24 diaries from Friday, March 21 through Wednesday, August 13, 2008 in the wake of Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Dean, Felix, and the three dozen smaller hurricanes in and around them.
In this set, Kosak alpelican published volunteering in new orleans + how it changes you Apr 17, 2008, of her Common Ground Collective experience. Only one other DK diary from her, a week or two earlier, and none since. Sometimes you have to make a choice about how you can do the most good for the lives of those around you and yourself.
Other writers and organizers in that set are also gone from among us, more finally. Fair winds and farewell to them all, with our sorrow and gratitude. May we learn from you well.