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Is any act truly selfless? I get lots of self satisfaction from "acts" I perform, or have performed. I don't think there is any unilateral transaction. That said, there are things that people do that benefit "others" more than themselves in an outside perception.
My mom was a volunteer, and I grew up with the sense that it was just part of people's lives. She always had something on the go. I guess it rubbed off.
When I was an undergrad, I spent two or three evenings a week at a shelter for homeless teens. I had some extra time, but little money. When my career took off, I gave money, as I had little time.
I shifted gears career wise, and found more time. I got "roped" into a fledgling organization that had a wacky idea of helping low income individuals to start their own businesses by providing business plan counselling and start-up loans. We hoped to raise a few bucks and help a few people. We raised over $600,000 (the last amount when I left the board after five years) and had 83 successful businesses started employing over 400 people. Most of those people came off welfare rolls. The issue of affordable housing came up time and time again when meeting these low income individuals. So, a land trust was born. We had hoped to raise enough money to buy and renovate five houses and get five families into safe, affordable housing. After three years we'd bought and renovated 22 homes. The unfortunate part of that organization was the intense time committment on my part, and after a number of years of nearly full time un-paid work, I burned out and had to turn the reigns over to someone else, and take some time for myself.
I also sit on the board of a charity that helps young families with support services, but it takes only a little of my time thanks to a terrific staff, so I don't really "count" it.
Over the last six years I have worked for paid work a total of about 4 months, and put in thousands of hours of unpaid work. The last months have been "about me" with some paid consulting work and extra time for climbing, etc. But, I have the itch. A friend has mentioned raising money to create cooperative business ventures, and I am intrigued. However, I have been told that I am no longer allowed to put my house up as collateral to launch shakey-at-best kooky charitable ventures. Compromises to stay married...
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