Yeah that would be nice. I’m pretty fed up with all the work I did. It didn’t really accomplish anything except giving me a lot of friends. On a social level I accomplished nothing.
It was really rewarding but at the same time it was like being a pastor or something and I had to deal with all the stress of managing teams of volunteers.
I was just at a local level though so perspective on what’s above that would be educational for me.
It might be better as a comment reply than a pm because many people might find it interesting.
I think I know exactly what you mean when you say feeling like it didn’t really accomplish anything. When we saw the same person come back year after year it really felt like we didn’t help them, just maintained a status quo. And that is true in one way.
But consider what would happen if volunteers like us weren’t there? A lot of people wouldn’t be able to maintain status quo and just fall further into despair. Sometimes that realization has to be enough. Sometimes knowing that the person in front of you will have a meal tonight has to be enough, never mind what they’ll to tomorrow.
Beyond handing out food, clothes or in other ways helping individuals, there is organizational networking. And this is where I think we can see the long-reaching, society-changing effects.
By becoming part of a volunteer national food bank system (https://www.matsentralen.no/english) our organization supplemented our own food drive and was able to hand out several hundred tons of food per year. Beyond the extra food we were able to hand out, the need for a national food bank system has for years put focus on the fact that we actually need a privately run national food bank. In what is supposed to be a social-democratic nation run by the workers party. And of course the media enjoys bringing this up, which keeps it on the national agenda.
By becoming part of political umbrella network dedicated to eradicating poverty and inequality we were able to rally behind the most pressing political issues together with many other non-profit organizations that would otherwise be too small to matter on their own. Both by participating directly in the national democracy through hearings and such, but also by representing the underrepresented for the public in newspaper commentaries, TV- and radio broadcasts and so on.
The effects of many, many people networking behind a common cause have changed the world before and it will again. I can see it. But in the mean time, people are starving. Often the person handing out a meal is more important to a starving person than the person on TV complaining about inequality.
ROFL you don’t live in America? I thought you were going to give me hope. Nope, God just sent you to mock me. Yeah its so awesome that you had all of that happen in your fantasy kingdom full of elves and fairy sprinkles. I live in a world where cops threw the narcan we gave people into the river. I hope your project evaporates and you get pulled into the same pit of despair I did!
God, that was such trash. I’m so unbelivably angry jealous and envious that you people get to live in some kind of fantasy land. Maybe if I lived in France or wherever my project wouldn’t have been such a waste of time. Thanks for reminding me.
Yeah I can’t say you’re wrong. I just felt really depressed and got super jealous because my project failed. In the end it doesn’t matter because it won’t affect anything.
Yeah that would be nice. I’m pretty fed up with all the work I did. It didn’t really accomplish anything except giving me a lot of friends. On a social level I accomplished nothing.
It was really rewarding but at the same time it was like being a pastor or something and I had to deal with all the stress of managing teams of volunteers.
I was just at a local level though so perspective on what’s above that would be educational for me.
It might be better as a comment reply than a pm because many people might find it interesting.
I think I know exactly what you mean when you say feeling like it didn’t really accomplish anything. When we saw the same person come back year after year it really felt like we didn’t help them, just maintained a status quo. And that is true in one way.
But consider what would happen if volunteers like us weren’t there? A lot of people wouldn’t be able to maintain status quo and just fall further into despair. Sometimes that realization has to be enough. Sometimes knowing that the person in front of you will have a meal tonight has to be enough, never mind what they’ll to tomorrow.
Beyond handing out food, clothes or in other ways helping individuals, there is organizational networking. And this is where I think we can see the long-reaching, society-changing effects.
By becoming part of a volunteer national food bank system (https://www.matsentralen.no/english) our organization supplemented our own food drive and was able to hand out several hundred tons of food per year. Beyond the extra food we were able to hand out, the need for a national food bank system has for years put focus on the fact that we actually need a privately run national food bank. In what is supposed to be a social-democratic nation run by the workers party. And of course the media enjoys bringing this up, which keeps it on the national agenda.
By becoming part of political umbrella network dedicated to eradicating poverty and inequality we were able to rally behind the most pressing political issues together with many other non-profit organizations that would otherwise be too small to matter on their own. Both by participating directly in the national democracy through hearings and such, but also by representing the underrepresented for the public in newspaper commentaries, TV- and radio broadcasts and so on.
The effects of many, many people networking behind a common cause have changed the world before and it will again. I can see it. But in the mean time, people are starving. Often the person handing out a meal is more important to a starving person than the person on TV complaining about inequality.
ROFL you don’t live in America? I thought you were going to give me hope. Nope, God just sent you to mock me. Yeah its so awesome that you had all of that happen in your fantasy kingdom full of elves and fairy sprinkles. I live in a world where cops threw the narcan we gave people into the river. I hope your project evaporates and you get pulled into the same pit of despair I did!
God, that was such trash. I’m so unbelivably angry jealous and envious that you people get to live in some kind of fantasy land. Maybe if I lived in France or wherever my project wouldn’t have been such a waste of time. Thanks for reminding me.
aa
Yeah I can’t say you’re wrong. I just felt really depressed and got super jealous because my project failed. In the end it doesn’t matter because it won’t affect anything.