Staying Fit
AARP Foundation will wrap up its 2017 Summer of Service to Seniors with a two-day Meal Pack Challenge event on Sunday, Sept. 10 in DC.
Brandon Dill
It took seven years of effort, but David Paine and Jay Winuk managed to turn a day of tragedy and evil into one of hope and compassion.
Paine, who watched the horrors of 9/11 from afar, and Winuk, whose volunteer-firefighter brother was killed, teamed up in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and set out to change the tone of the day.
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The public relations pros set up a nonprofit and began to lobby tirelessly. In 2009, they convinced Congress and President Obama to officially designate September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Today it’s the largest annual celebration of charity in the nation, with some 30 million Americans taking part in some fashion or another.
Anyone itching to get involved will find no shortage of opportunities. Here are four places to start looking. To find other ways you can give back in your community, go to the nonprofit 9/11 Day or AARP's Create the Good and input your zip code.
Disaster Relief
Hurricanes and other natural disasters can inspire a sense of impotence in aspiring do-gooders. Outside the cone of destruction, we stand by helplessly as social and other media bombard us with pictures of the destruction and the gut-wrenching stories of those affected.
Because it’s easy to move and infinitely versatile, money is always the best short-term way to help following a natural disaster. As time wears on, however, there are other ways to get involved. Groups like the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster recommend connecting with local churches to help assemble disaster kits with personal hygiene supplies or clean-up buckets that can be distributed in the region affected. Such work can be needed for months after the initial disaster, the group says.
To lay the groundwork for more hands-on work during future disasters, you can register for courses with organizations such as the American Red Cross. Search-and-rescue volunteers, shelter workers, mental health professionals and others like them are always needed but must be trained before they can be deployed to danger zones.
Many other organizations are coordinating relief efforts specifically for Hurricane Harvey survivors.
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