The Joy of Giving Contest From the time I could remember, I have had to struggle. When I started talking, I acquired a stutter. This has continued throughout my life. Many people were mean but just as many were kind. I remembered them and I strived to be as kind as I could. As a young teen, conflict at home led me to flee. I began my new life as a fifteen year old girl. I learned to survive. Again, I met the bad and the good, searching only for positive role models. Later, in my twenties I was diagnosed with Rhumatoid Arthritis. It hit me so hard, I needed attendent care. A few months later I was attacked and hurt both physically and emotionally. The police brought me to a women's shelter and I lived there for three months. Again, people were kind to me. I vowed then that I would do all I could to help others. I spent the next two years trying to cope with this disease. In time, I became strong enough to go back to school. Then, in 1991, I began to volunteer at our local foodbank as a hostess. A year later, I was interviewing people for food. I could truly understand their struggle and assure them things can get better. A few of us then started to facilitate workshops at the foodbank. We wanted to eliminate the bandage and give people the empowerment to solve their problems. Working at the foodbank has been my calling. I volunteer a few days a week and have become Vice President. I believe in what we do with all my heart as it has allowed me to return the acts of kindness shown to me throughout my life. - Tara TKL Welcomes
Tom Ohling Previous Articles: |
The Healing Power of Doing Good By Tom Ohling - chefpro@teleport.com "In asking the overworked person to make additions to an already busy day, I can easily imagine the sceptical laughter of readers who feel sufficiently pushed to the wall by their existing job responsibilities. It is ironic, but true, that one way to relieve the pressure is to do something extra." - Allan Luks Watching the faces of tragedy in close-up on the evening news, listening to tails of world-wide woe reported on National Public Radio, or reading of abused victims over the morning coffee it is easy to say, I need to do something to help. But by the time the morning commute has stop-and-goed our patience to a pulp and the dream of cloning seems the only way to complete the daily work load the thoughts of volunteering are back-burnered once again. The Healing Power of Doing Good; The Health and Spiritual Benefits of Helping Others by Allan Luks with Peggy Payne quickly puts a refreshing perspective on why we need to make time to reach out to others. Published in 1991 by Ballantine Books, this book has become a standard resource for volunteer recruiters. When I read it, I began to understand the transformation that community involvement had brought to my life. Allan Luks began his helping life in the civil rights movement followed by a stint in the Peace Corps before becoming a community-action lawyer in East Harlem and then heading an alcoholism agency. In the late eighties he took the position of executive director at the Institute for the Advancement of Health. Founded by physicians and scientist from leading medical schools and hospitals, the institute is a clearing-house for information on mind-body interactions. Mr. Luks book chronicles the accumulation of data done from others and his own research. The implications for our own health and the healthy future of our society are profound. Helper's-High is the term Mr. Luks has given to the immediate and long lasting effects of volunteer work. With an easy mix of personal testimonies and scientific data we learn how helping others exhilarates the helper while providing a healing salve for the psyche and the physical being. He shares stories of sufferers of multiple sclerosis, arthritis, hyper-tension relieving their suffering through helping acts towards others. Heart patients, cancer victims and those plagued by the plethora of addictions all find a measure of relief from a dose of the volunteer prescription. The broad power of the endorphins released during Helper's-High is amazing and well documented. While the struggle for the cure for the common cold goes on it seems as if a cure for the common malaise that infects our society is already at hand. The kids, the commute, school, soccer, shopping, the gym: where are we to find the time to exercise our compassion muscle? Allan Luks shares, "In asking the overworked person to make additions to an already busy day, I can easily imagine the sceptical laughter of readers who feel sufficiently pushed to the wall by their existing job responsibilities. It is ironic, but true, that one way to relieve the pressure is to do something extra." He is right. The five years that I have spent as a volunteer have changed my life, in fact are the best years of my life. To find out how you too can be changed or to discover the mechanism that has kept you coming back for more, read and share with others The Healing Power of Doing Good. |
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