When I was of the ripe old age of 12, I was one year away from the date I was promised by multiple rabbis, parents, and friends would be the moment I throw out all of those childlike antics and become a man. Of course, I’m referring to every young boy’s dream that turns into a ridiculously overpriced, “first-time-seeing-your-parents” drunk evening called a Bar Mitzvah. Less known outside of the Jewish world is a conjunction with the Bar Mitzvah: a Mitzvah project. Tons of selfless (or parentally-forced) Jewish kids pick a charitable project to focus on in the year leading up to the aforementioned special occasion. My Mitzvah project involved teaching kids how to ready with my “therapy dog” anointed pup Latke; it was mind-blowingly fulfilling, and changed my life.
Since then, sadly, admittedly, tough-to-understand-why-I’m-sharing-this publicly, my volunteering game has been OFF. So caught up in ye old day-to-day life, I rarely took the time to venture outside-the-boogie-nouveau-yuppie bubble to actually help those in need. It’s not that I’m not a compassionate guy, I help my friends pick their brunch reservation, my other buddy seal the deal for the first date, and of course, my parents figure out how to Snapchat. For suuuuure helping people, but a different kind of help. It was time to take up a notch…actually, like five notches.
This all changed a couple months ago when I set the goal to volunteer six times in 2017. Not revolutionary, and easily beatable, I figured this would be a good start on my path to giving back to the community.
Over the weekend, along with my buddy Jason, we did just that and volunteered at Glide SF, a local homeless community organization.
Instead of the typical Saturday morning where I lie in bed borderline hungover watching Snapchat Stories, I scooted to their space and bagged some lunches.
Oh yeah, and it was infinitely more redeeming than the Snapchat Story viewing session.
I was blown away by how simple it was to volunteer. Signup online, hop in an Uber, and make over 500 lunches for the homeless people. Boom. Signed, sealed, delivered to the local judge that mandated this in the first place (kidding, of course).
Truth be told, it was one helluva morning, and the most absurd part of it all, the societal norms around my typical Saturday morning view this as unordinary. We have to change this..
Now, more than ever, anyone who can afford bottomless mimosas, needs to help those who can’t. It’s literally easier than swiping to volunteer…and you don’t have to adjust your age preferences 🙂
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Harrison Forman 