365 Inspirations—280: Volunteers

"Be of service. Whether you make yourself available to a friend or co-worker, or you make time every month to do volunteer work, there is nothing that harvests more of a feeling of empowerment than being of service to someone in need."—Gillian Anderson

I now have two volunteers in my Monday class of close to 30 students from over 15 countries. I'm an ESL teacher at a local community college. Volunteers make such a difference in my large classes. It's hard to get to every single student and answer their individual questions and they often need individual help.

Today I am inspired by and grateful for all the people who have volunteered in my classes and helped my students. I'm actually grateful for anyone who volunteers for anything.

With busy schedules, work, life, family and other things that take up our time, it is not easy to volunteer for anything, but when you do, it makes such a difference.


Have you ever volunteered for anything? What was it?

365 Inspirations—99: Volunteers

Do you volunteer for anything or have you ever been a volunteer? Today I'm grateful and inspired by my volunteers. I'm an ESL teacher with over 100 students this quarter. I don't know how I could do it without the people who so graciously volunteer their time in my classes.


One class typically has 35 plus students in it. That's a lot to handle for one teacher, but the volunteer program at my college is very well organized and the coordinator always asks me if I need volunteers in my classes.

Long ago, I didn't think I needed them and thought I could do everything myself. These days, I am realizing that I could use some help because my classes are so big.

It feels good to help people who need it, so I know the volunteers get something from it too. I know I certainly do.

Last week I had a skills lab class with 40 students and only one other assistant. We needed more help and weren't able to get to everyone in class.

Today, I had a volunteer in my regular class who agreed to stay on for an extra 30 minutes for my lab class. Even that extra 30 minutes made such a difference.

Sometimes I think we feel we don't want to help because there's not much we can do or that the short amount of time we have to do something for someone else won't make a difference.

I believe that ever minute makes a difference. Just the intention of wanting to help another person can make a difference.

Have you ever been a volunteer or have you ever helped anyone out who needed it?

365 Lessons-Lesson 33: Pay Attention, The Signs are Right in Front of You

My friend, Rosedanie Cadet, hadn't been back to her country, Haiti, in 36 years. In December, she sat at my dining room table and told me that she was going back. She had planned to return to Japan, where she once lived, but didn't receive her visa in time. Since she had the time, she decided she would like to return to her country to help her people. This was before the earthquake.

She left in December with a non-profit organization called Answered Prayers. She was selected to act as the translator of this program which would travel to an orphanage in Haiti in order to bring supplies to the children and help with building projects. She asked me if I knew of anyone who had any baby items. I don't have children, so I immediately contacted my sister and best friend who both provided Rosedanie with a few boxes of items.

Before Rosedanie left for Haiti, a friend mentioned that she should have a psychic reading to find out why she felt a strong need to return. The psychic told her that her grandmother, who died before Rosedanie ever had a chance to meet her, was waiting for her return. Even though they had never met, Rosedanie felt her grandmother was with her and that she had work to do in Haiti.

A week or so after Rosedanie returned from Haiti, after helping out with the orphanage, the earthquake hit. Rosedanie made it back just in time. Many of her family members were missing and it took some time to find them, but all of them are safe.

While most would be frightened to return to a country that was just destroyed by an earthquake, Rosdanie took it as a sign that she was meant to return. She had a strong sense that her grandmother was there helping her in spirit. She contacted Partner's in Health and Mercy Corps to let them know about a project she had been planning for some time. They let her know that she could make a donation, but they wouldn't accept her project.

Rosedanie has been a cook and garderner on Orcas Island, WA for several years. Rosedanie believes that if people in rural areas learn proper farming techniques and have a proper facility to store food, they will learn to be self sufficient and not need to rely on the heavy aid of other countries. If jobs are created in the rural areas through farming, people will be more apt to stay there and there won't be as much of a need to go to the city to find work.

She decided to form her own organization called The Noramise Project, named after her grandmother. She feels this is her calling. Helping the people of Haiti during this earthquake is a wonderful thing. But helping the people to become self sufficient for life is something that will last for many generations to come. Here's a video of Rosedanie talking about her project:



Answered Prayers, the organization she traveled with in December when she went to help out in the orphanage, has decided to link her project to their site. You can make specific donations to the Noramise Project by going to answeredprayers2.org. Make sure to specify that you would like your donation to go to that project. You can also visit noramise.org to find out more specifics on this project.

Rosedanie and I have been good friends for some time now. When I see what she has done in such a short amount of time with her project, I am utterly amazed. After the earthquake, she has participated in two benefit dinners for Haiti. Some of those proceeds will go to her project. She has also managed to mobilize volunteers in Haiti to help with farming. She has gotten a church in the rural city of Limbe, where she is from, to donate land for her food processing plant. Two articles have been published on Orcas Island, WA talking about her project. Momentum for what she is doing is coming from all directions. People are saying, "What can I do?"

I asked her if she finds this amazing. She said, "I am just a conduit. I am like a hub. My main role is to be the connecting person. I am receiving messages of what I need to do and what actions I need to take and I'm taking them." This sense of selfless service in my friend is so amazing. She has put all her needs and cares aside and is doing this for the people of her country.

More than that, all of this seems to be coming through my friend. Not even she knows where it all will lead, she is just taking things as they come.

Rosedanie stopped by my house again today and told me of this project. I knew I had to write a post here. I felt it was a sign to me that she was sitting in front of me at my dining room table once again. If she had stayed a little longer in Haiti, I might have lost my friend.

Pay attention, the signs are right in front of you. If this project speaks to you, I urge you to get involved by either donating or going to Haiti to volunteer your time. My dear friend has reminded me that sharing whatever gifts we have with others on this planet is the reason why we are here.