Those of us with specialized skills should use them to help our fellow man in times of need. We may not be experts or certified, but our knowledge is useful.
Watching and listening to the reports of the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan reminded me that skills such as ours are greatly need by people throughout our communities. We don’t have to go all the way to Japan to find people who need us. Your local Habitat for Humanity needs volunteers who know how to patch holes in drywall, connect the wiring to a ceiling fan and help put up a frame of a house.
Charities often don’t have the money to hire people to fix things, so they depend on volunteers with knowledge to fix their leaky pipes and repair their air conditioners. You don’t get money out of it, but you will make a difference in people’s lives.
I remember volunteering for Habitat for Humanity one year, and we were at an elderly person’s house that needed some significant work. She had a dishwasher, but it stopped working a few months earlier, and she didn’t have the money to fix it. The woman was forced to hand-wash her dishes despite having severe arthritis in her hands.
She talked about having to stop every few minutes because her hands were hurting so bad. It turned out the dish washer had a minor problem that I was able to fix while I was there. She came by when I first turned it on and actually cried when it worked. I made a difference in her life with something as simple as fixing a dishwasher. I helped make her life a little easier.
Charities like Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross and United Way provide the things that people need to live. They help people when they are down, and I know that if I ever needed their services I would have them. There is no reason, if they need my services, that I shouldn’t offer it to them.
The news spends all its time talking about the devastation, but the real stories come from the people like you and me, using the skills we learned to help others.
Image Source: flickr.com/photos/firstbaptistnashville/2658798046
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