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I thought of a number of possibilities for what I might like to support this week. It's Mental Health Week, Sunday will be Mothers' Day (at least on this side of the Atlantic, although today it looks more like late March outside, around the time of the U.K. celebration!) Then it's also the 75th anniversary of VE Day, so it would be nice to do something for veterans, particularly since they're in the age group most affected by this insidious, covidious virus.
In the end, I didn't specifically go with any of those ideas. But my choice does maybe relate to the fact that most university students are at the end of their academic year and would, under normal circumstances, be looking for employment to help finance further studies.
In this case, the work is being done on a volunteer basis, but of course there are always overhead expenses which tend to be even more onerous under pandemic conditions. And as a general rule, I don't believe that volunteers should be subject to further out-of-pocket expenses in their quest to do good. So I made my donation this week to Bag Half Full (Ottawa), an errand and delivery service for those who are home-bound. The recipients of this service still order and pay for their groceries or prescriptions or whatever themselves, but there is no additional charge for the time spent by the personal shopper, nor the costs involved by the delivery service (time, fuel, upkeep of vehicle etc.)
Moreover, this service was conceived and organized by medical students, who presumably will gain invaluable contacts in the community and a real-life feel for what other types of services might be needed during this and future pandemics. Here is a link to more details:
https://www.baghalffull.com/how-it-works
It's immediate, practical help where it's most needed. But I can see how it might evolve into bigger and better things over time as well.
In the end, I didn't specifically go with any of those ideas. But my choice does maybe relate to the fact that most university students are at the end of their academic year and would, under normal circumstances, be looking for employment to help finance further studies.
In this case, the work is being done on a volunteer basis, but of course there are always overhead expenses which tend to be even more onerous under pandemic conditions. And as a general rule, I don't believe that volunteers should be subject to further out-of-pocket expenses in their quest to do good. So I made my donation this week to Bag Half Full (Ottawa), an errand and delivery service for those who are home-bound. The recipients of this service still order and pay for their groceries or prescriptions or whatever themselves, but there is no additional charge for the time spent by the personal shopper, nor the costs involved by the delivery service (time, fuel, upkeep of vehicle etc.)
Moreover, this service was conceived and organized by medical students, who presumably will gain invaluable contacts in the community and a real-life feel for what other types of services might be needed during this and future pandemics. Here is a link to more details:
https://www.baghalffull.com/how-it-works
It's immediate, practical help where it's most needed. But I can see how it might evolve into bigger and better things over time as well.
