Personal Accountability

Everyone has the same needs whether it is clean water, food, or the need to live a life of dignity. While overwhelming when looking at all the needs around the world, there are steps all of us can take to improve lives in our local communities. If everyone started with this smaller step, it would provide the potential to branch out to outlying communities and eventually, a better world. There are several ways people can contribute locally that could provide the template for accomplishing a more fulfilling life and contribute to a more sustainable world

• ♦ Volunteer

There are many local organizations in communities that allow people to help others in need. Personally, I belong to the Lion's Club that focuses on people dealing with blindness, diabetes and hunger. Others may want to volunteer at local food banks, humane societies, hospice volunteering, or at a local hospital. There is no shortage of need around us and if every able bodied person contributed, it would create a waterfall effect.



• ♦ Donate Food

I collaborate with a group of friends who enjoy gardening as much as I do. With the food I grow, I pressure can items like salsa, spagetti sauce and pickles. The group then created an exchange where we can trade salsa for strawberry jam or other items we don't process ourselves. It allows us to have a variety of healthy, organic foods that keeps all our family's healthier. We also collaborate on buying our meat locally and processed by a local butcher. We buy in bulk and it equates to almost #500 lbs of product in one purchase. This allows us to buy meat from a local farmer at a cheaper price than at a grocery store and makes it more easy to afford larger donations to local food banks to help those who may be experiencing food insecurities. I have also heard of communities having a group of people participate in yard sales where the proceeds get donated to local food pantries. Instead of exchanging small gifts at work for the holidays, I have had coworkers collect money to donate instead. It just takes a little creativity to have a large impact for those in need.



• ♦ Recycle

Everyone can take small steps to reduce the amount of waste going into the environment. I am fortunate to work for a company that recycles electronics, christmas lights and appliances. Instead of taking items like your laptop or microwave to the local dump, it only takes a search on the internet to find where your local collection events are that will transport these items to a local recycler. Many communities hold these at least once a year. We also never use individual bottles of water. Since we do not like using tap water due to all toxins, we refill gallon jugs of water at the local grocery store. If we need to carry a small amount, we refill personal containers using these refilled gallons. The reuse process means we contribute no plastic into the environment from water consumption. If everyone did this, it would dramatically reduce plastic in our environment. Also using reusable bags when shopping should become the norm. There is almost no effort in grabbing bags from home to take to a store when you shop.