Volun-tears of Joy

Ok. So as most anyone who knows me knows, it doesn't take all that much to make me tear up. The commercial where the little boy learns some sign language so he can talk to this kid on the bus. The last scene in 'Brighton Beach Memoirs'. Pretty much the end of every movie, including Madagascar 2 - Escape From Africa.

On Monday night I saw another film clip that got the ole' water works going. I was at my orientation for New York Cares. It's an organization that is like a middle man for volunteer needs. They were showing a video highlighting some of the projects they are involved with and of course I didn't make it past the first 30 seconds before discreetly weeping opening and loudly.

Anyway, the bottom line is I would like to encourage all of my new york friends to join New York Cares. It's very easy and very rewarding.. I will outline the steps below.

1. Cut a hole in the box. Just Kidding.

1. Go to nycares.org.

2. Click on the 'NOT YET A VOLUNTEER?' button. This will help you sign up for a volunteer orientation. (The orientation took less than an hour and they have locations scattered around NYC. The orientations may be booked for a few weeks out so mark it in your calendar.)

3. Once you've been oriented you can go to the website and search for opportunities to volunteer in NYC. The best thing is that the program is set up for busy people. You can volunteer as much or as little as you want. Some of the programs look for a commitment of months but most are just a few hours one day.

4. Three of the things I'm signed up for are (to give you an idea of the projects) craft time with Seniors at a retirement home, reading and socializing with people living with AIDS at a long-term care home, and delivering meals (on foot) for Meals on Wheels.

Each of these is only one day and then I can decide if I want to sign up for more days or other projects. Again, I would like to encourage anyone who's interested to take a look at nycares.org. It would be fun to sign up for some of these projects with friends.

New York Cares makes it very easy to go from saying "I wish I had more time to volunteer' to actually being able to find the time to volunteer.

Let me know if you need any more info. Also, they have sister/brother organizations in other major cities so if you're not in NYC check them out as well.

Peace out, cub scouts.