Charity advice

[Martinus]

If you're literally looking to get your hands dirty, and don't mind working with tools or outside then Habitat for Humanity is a good place to start.

That's actually one of my favourite suggestions so far (but thanks to everyone - many others are good too).

I am actually looking for something that is:
1) not something I do on the daily basis
2) possibly involves physical work
3) is not just donating money

I am also not the most empathetic person (or rather, I have empathy but I am shy/have hard time sharing with people), so a hospice or something like that may be hard (not that I did not consider that).

[Phillip V]

So, this is probably going to be dimissed by many as another attention whoring thread, since I am a narcissistic sociopath and whatnot, but I have been thinking recently about getting my hands a bit dirty with something charitable. I am actually thinking of something more than just writing a check, and would like to actually dedicate some of my time (say 1-2 hours a week or so) to helping others.

Has anyone been doing (or knows someone who is doing something similar) and can give some tips? I am really just looking for an inspiration or an idea. And I fully recognise that I may end up giving up after I try and get bored...

Look up local groups and attend their meetings, ideally their sponsored Happy Hours or dinners.

[Martinus]

Do you have the equivalent of the Cats Protection League? Avoids all that dealing with humans nonsense.

More seriously, do something that means something to you, like something a friend or relative had to deal with. It'll stop you quitting too soon.

Or something like Good Gym where you get a workout too. https://www.goodgym.org/how_it_works

The Habitat actually helped a friend (she is a a single mother nurse with a kid who used to be very sick but now is growing up fine), so I may hit them, actually. I guess it depends if I stay in Poland or move to France.

Plus building homes has some sort of appeal I did not consider before but it speaks to me. You are actually creating stuff. There is apparently a project coming up in Poland in August - and now that I think of it, it's a cool opportunity to travel the world if I decide to join one of the non-domestic initiatives.

Thanks, Sav!

[crazy canuck]

There must be all kinds of non-profits out there that can use your assistance.

[DGuller]

If you really want to help people use your professional skills (such as they are) to help a worthy cause. Don't find yourself handing out soup to the homeless or something like that, any Pole can do that stuff.

I ratehr suspect that poor Poles don't need the help of a M&A lawyer.

And while anybody can hand out soup to the homeless, very few people actually do so.

I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, he might know stuff about other parts of law as well.

If he wants soup to be handed out I rather suspect that Mart'd be better off working those hours as a lawyer and pay X number of Poles to do the handing. Unless it's all about how Mart feels and not about helping others in which case my advice is void as I said.

The Brain is wise.

[Monoriu]

I have been working tirelessly on the Monoriu Retirement Fund.

[Capetan Mihali]

The Brain is wise.

Yeah, why not Legal Aid/pro bono attorney work?  You don't have to be an expert on the field of law in question -- just having someone in a suit who knows a vague bit of the to represent you, versus having nobody and knowing absolutely nothing of the law, can make a huge difference.