National Volunteer Month | Channeling Negative Energy into Positive

Sharing some of my experience with community service, my plans for April, and how you can help local organizations near you without going to volunteer while we are all practicing social distancing. 

The world is scary right now and I would be lying to you if I said I was in good spirits. I've been carrying an excessive amount of negative energy, and it's time I try to channel my anxiety and sadness into something positive.

Community service. It does so much for your soul. 

Volunteering and giving back through community service can help your mental health and even combat depression. It can help you feel happy during times of uncertainty. There's a special feeling you get when you serve your community--and it gives you a purpose even when you feel hopeless.

With COVID-19, our local communities are being slammed with adversity now more than ever. Even though we've been instructed to stay indoors to prevent the spread of the virus, there are still plenty of ways you can take part in National Volunteer Month. 

Through April, which also happens to be National Volunteer Month, I invite you to join me in planning out ways that you can better your community by giving back your time or raising charitable funds if you have the means. Since so many people have been laid off or sent home without pay due to COVID-19, I realize most of us won't have the finances to give back right now. Instead, we can use this time to map out how we want to pledge to give back to our community once it is safe to be out and about again and we're no longer being instructed to practice social distancing. 

Today, I want to share with you some of my plans that I have in mind for April and how I'm going to shift my focus into something positive and make bigger strides to help my Arizona community. 

When I was a student at Arizona State University, I pledged and served as a sister of Omega Phi Alpha. The women who I had the privilege of meeting in college became my sisters, and beyond college, have remained some of my closest girlfriends. Sisterhood is incredible, and I'm fortunate that my sorority gave me an opportunity to meet women who continue to inspire me as well as the chance to give back through community service. 

As a sister of Omega Phi Alpha, I had numerous opportunities to pledge my time to wonderful organizations that gave back to our community including but not limited to American Cancer Society, Feed My Starving Children, Relay for Life, MLK Day of Service, StreeLightUSA, Ronald McDonald House, St. Vincent de Paul, the local Girl Scout troops, and working on larger community service projects alongside other Panhellenic sororities and fraternities at Arizona State University. 

While I am at home self-quarantining and practicing social distancing, I am doing what I can to help organizations that directly impact Arizona. 

First off, I am starting my commitment this month for National Volunteer Month by donating 100% of the earnings I make from my Poshmark sales to Go with the Flow AZ. 

Go with the Flow AZ is a non-profit organization that provides menstrual hygiene products to students in Arizona. It was founded a few years ago when a teacher who had been providing these products to her students learned that the school had insufficient funding and could not provide these essential products to students in need. Coupled with inadequate supplies of essential feminine health products and learning how students were skipping school when they were on their period because they didn't have them at home, Go with the Flow was founded as an organization that provides Arizona schools with period packs--small bags that contain tampons, sanitary napkins, and panty liners. 

As a former educator and someone with a passion for women's health, Go with the Flow AZ is an organization I will happily support in whatever way I can. I intend to also donate boxes of products once the social distancing order has been lifted, but so far, I have raised and donated $63 to Go with the Flow AZ. I know it's not a lot of money, but it's something I can do from the comfort of my home while I am practicing social distancing. 

If you'd like to support Go with the Flow AZ, here is a link to their website if you wish to donate. 

Also, while I cannot go and donate any items at this time, I do plan on making donations to local food drives. We have been trying to stock up our pantry with only the food items that we need to feed our family, but once our grocery store shelves start filling up with food, I will begin grabbing a couple extra cans of items to bring home and donate at a later time.

Finally, depending on when the lift for social distancing happens, I've already begun planning some community service events alongside a few of my local sorority sisters. A couple of the local Arizona organizations we are planning to volunteer at are Feed My Starving Children and StreetLightUSA. So that's my plan for right now, and I will continue to brainstorm ways to give back throughout National Volunteer month. 

How can you help? Start with finding just one organization that benefits your local community. Research what you can do to help them, how you can get involved, and then go from there. 

Other ways you can help non-profits while you're social distancing:
-sign up for future events they are hosting
-follow them on social media and share their posts
-start an online fundraiser through Facebook or Instagram for your local organizations you're passionate about
-research what local organizations need right now, and if they offer contact-free donation pick-ups from your home
-write letters to your local senator/representative when it's applicable to help local organizations
-look for contact-free activities you can participate in to help the community (e.g. plant a tree)

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