TOTJO Volunteer Corp

Brenna wrote: In chat we talked about the idea of a volunteer corp, people willing to do volunteer hours or community service as a recognized member of the Temple.

Thoughts?

Providing service is amazing! What are the long-term goals of this idea? Are there possible risks? What type of volunteer work will be considered? Will volunteer work be recorded for of our Temple, if so how? What effect will volunteer work have on the Temple, and how will the Temple being able to manage its development? Will minors be able to participate in this idea, if so how? How could volunteer work contribute to short- and long-term goals in relation with our religion, will this affect the role of the Minister? How will volunteers face people who are angry or not kind towards Jediism? How to prepare future volunteers to a possible experience?


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Brenna wrote: Well considering the time of year, soup kitchens and food drives are a good place to start.

Google and social media are your friends here. Do a search to see what's needed in your area and call up.

Those of us artistically inclined could organize concerts or art shows/exhibits where the proceeds got to the charity of choice. I think support of the arts, contributing to the arts, and potentially doing some after school volunteering involving the arts would be helpful, and could even be really fun. My mom is an area director for the Salvation Army. Not my favorite charity, but she would give me some ideas about how to get things started. I can be involved in the idea phases and anything creative, but anything logistics related or networking, and I'm not the best choice, unless you need someone to be a stage manager for a show.

Donate water to Flint (With TOTJO Sticker Logos and flyers)

Donate blankets to Access Pipeline ((When I was little we used to go door to door asking for old blankets and coats for our homeschool homeless campaign)) - (With TOTJO Sticker Logos and flyers)

Donate Cat/Dog food/litter beds to the local humane societies - Or- volunteer time to walk the dogs/clean kennels

Adopt a Highway (Wearing Temple shirts)

Clean The Park (Wearing Temple shirts)

Lots of options.....

All excellent questions! Ones that i think we will all need to contribute towards answering.

In the mean time though, Id encourage anyone who feels moved to, to go out and find a way to be of service. Share the experience either in forum or in your journals. I'd love to hear about it

Codex wrote:

Brenna wrote: In chat we talked about the idea of a volunteer corp, people willing to do volunteer hours or community service as a recognized member of the Temple.

Thoughts?

Providing service is amazing! What are the long-term goals of this idea? Are there possible risks? What type of volunteer work will be considered? Will volunteer work be recorded for of our Temple, if so how? What effect will volunteer work have on the Temple, and how will the Temple being able to manage its development? Will minors be able to participate in this idea, if so how? How could volunteer work contribute to short- and long-term goals in relation with our religion, will this affect the role of the Minister? How will volunteers face people who are angry or not kind towards Jediism? How to prepare future volunteers to a possible experience?


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Most of this I imagine will be something that develops over time with experience and will be specific to the small group of individuals at the location, and how they work together based on their strengths. As for dealing with people who are not friendly to the religion, there are ways of dealing with those situations. Generally if you've worked in customer service for a long enough period of time, you'll have the social chops to be able to deal with an angry person. Lots of non-negative language. Avoid saying "No.", and speak in affirmatives as much as you possibly can. DO NOT let them get you angry or goad you into taking aggressive postures. Basic rules you would use for organizing and carrying out a protest. You can find a lot of this stuff online with a google search.

Brenna wrote: All excellent questions! Ones that i think we will all need to contribute towards answering.

In the mean time though, Id encourage anyone who feels moved to, to go out and find a way to be of service. Share the experience either in forum or in your journals. I'd love to hear about it

My wife and I do some volunteering for an LGBTQ youth shelter. You would be surprised how much of the homeless youth population is LGBTQ. You'd also be surprised at how oppressive the current systems in place to deal with homelessness are towards the LGBTQ community.

And remember, we are being of service, not trying to spread the good word about today ?

I'm helping at a soup kitchen after Xmas and I'll be sewing my Jedi and TOTJO patches onto either my jacket or beanie. If anyone asked I'll be happy to tell them but it's volunteering, not missionary work.

6h057 wrote:

Brenna wrote: All excellent questions! Ones that i think we will all need to contribute towards answering.

In the mean time though, Id encourage anyone who feels moved to, to go out and find a way to be of service. Share the experience either in forum or in your journals. I'd love to hear about it

My wife and I do some volunteering for an LGBTQ youth shelter. You would be surprised how much of the homeless youth population is LGBTQ. You'd also be surprised at how oppressive the current systems in place to deal with homelessness are towards the LGBTQ community.

That's awesome. What kind of stuff do you do? And I have to admit that I am surprised but on reflection it makes sense. is the shelter very busy?

Brenna wrote:

6h057 wrote:

Brenna wrote: All excellent questions! Ones that i think we will all need to contribute towards answering.

In the mean time though, Id encourage anyone who feels moved to, to go out and find a way to be of service. Share the experience either in forum or in your journals. I'd love to hear about it

My wife and I do some volunteering for an LGBTQ youth shelter. You would be surprised how much of the homeless youth population is LGBTQ. You'd also be surprised at how oppressive the current systems in place to deal with homelessness are towards the LGBTQ community.

That's awesome. What kind of stuff do you do? And I have to admit that I am surprised but on reflection it makes sense. is the shelter very busy?

We've done some fundraisers locally. It's an insane amount of work and planning. But worth it. If a fundraiser for a charity is a goal, then you need to start planning a year to a year and a half in advance. There isn't enough space at the shelter. Interestingly enough, a christian church is donating some of its space for beds with no strings.

Another question for the pot (not to be answered now, but to be considered Later)

How does this work for Jedi who represent more than one group? Myself I stand for at least three groups.