Trust me when I tell you I haven’t received a lot of trophies and medals in my life celebrating my athletic prowess. Nary a one. The proverbial last-picked-for-dodge ball, I never had a lot of... Read more >>

When I was growing up, each year my mom would greet the Fireman's Fund representative at the door for donations and then tack up a new sticker on the window. As a ritual, once a year we would go... Read more >>

There’s a good organization with a crappy name. Feed My Starving Children. It used to be O.K. for charities to promote victims. We’d see pictures of emaciated Africans with outstretched... Read more >>

“If you’re really hungry, you’ll eat scrapple,” said the older woman from our church, as she reached into a brown paper grocery bag. She pulled out a grayish brick of the... Read more >>

Are you someone who has always been a “giver”? In good financial times, have you contributed money to your favorite charities? Do you always find spare change in your pocket for The... Read more >>

Raegan Payne, a Los Angeles area writer and actor, is in a race to complete fifty different volunteer activities by 2010. She’s journaling about each experience on her blog www.thegoodmuse.com... Read more >>

Of all the descriptive words in my eulogy, “altruistic” would send me beaming with pride to the afterlife. It’s a daily goal for me, to think of others. But like other daily goals,... Read more >>

As unemployment rates continue to climb, folks who’ve worked for decades are losing their job and partly their identities. After all, “What do you do?” is one of the most commonly... Read more >>

On May 10, people in about sixty different countries will be celebrating their mothers! Mother’s Day usually means a flood of Hallmark cards, flowers, and chocolates. While these are given... Read more >>

I left the office late—the end of another grueling workday in “The City,” as the locals called Manhattan. The elevators, filled with people on their way home, took forever. It was... Read more >>