To Serve the City Geneva volunteers,
Here is a message from our founder, and president of STC International:
Dear leaders and volunteers, dear friends and family
We are facing something unique in our lifetimes. Who are we in this crisis? This may be a defining moment for Serve the City. Will we still serve? Can we provide global leadership in volunteering?
As is often the case, binary options are the only things on offer: 1, if the world is safe, live your normal lives (which may or may not include care for people in need); or 2, now, in a crisis, retreat and drop everything (including care for people in need).
Courage means we are the people of a third option. In a crisis, how can we follow wise precautions and yet still engage with people in need? It’s time to be creative – and to provide global leadership for creative volunteering.
Case in point: we have set 9 May aside as our Global Volunteer Day. What to do? Cancel it? No! Make it a bigger deal than we had imagined! Make a stronger commitment to it than we had previously considered! We won’t be able to gather in large numbers, but we can come up with creative ways of contacting and supporting people in need that others around the world can imitate.
Let the brainstorming begin! Here’s what Wade, a long-term friend of STC, wrote to me last night:
‘Maybe serving is getting groceries for someone who is quarantined, delivering medicine, dropping off books. Maybe it’s not self-protective at all – helping at hospitals and medical centres. Maybe it’s just sitting in public spaces and talking to people with love and reassurance. Given the STC community, I’ll be very interested and excited to see what they come up with.’
Come on! What are your ideas? Please let’s brainstorm ways of serving people in need in this crisis so we can send a strong message to the world that, especially now, many people doing small things together can make a big difference.
Kindness starts with me,
Carlton
Send your thoughts & ideas to Info@ServeTheCityGeneva.ch or enter you suggestions on our Facebook account.
Carrefour Rue , who as a very special service provider for the marginalised people of the community, as one of their several activities, collect clothing and give it away. Strange.. but true.. Their distribution point is a place called Aboudaby, located 154 Rte de Malagnou Chêne Bougeries. They are in need of about 10 volunteers to switch over the winter clothes to a spring/summer collection. Perhaps some other sorting !? The date is Saturday 21 March, 9:30 to 15:00. A BBQ lunch will be provided. Bring hand wipes/perhaps to share, as there is no hot water. If someone is willing to take over the Project Leader position, do let us know in your signup comments. Do signup on our website ServeTheCityGeneva.ch
Many thanks,
The STCG team.