By Your Hand

Use a dishwasher. This might surprise you, but washing dishes by hand uses six times as much water and twice the amount of energy as built-in dishwashers.

Take care of the Planet

Each year, the National Environmental Education Foundation coordinates hundreds of events around the country on Public Lands Day. Volunteers are recruited to improve public parks and wildlife refuges by removing trash, planting trees, and doing other earth-friendly activities. Visit their website to find a service day near you: publiclandsday.org.

Friend a Family

Sponsor a low-income family via boxproject.org. The Box Project joins struggling families in depressed regions of rural America with individuals or groups who send about $50 worth of food, clothing, and medical supplies monthly. The idea is not just to provide financial support, but emotional support as well. Most participants develop long-term relationships over many years, cemented through letters. In addition, the organization encourages volunteers to learn about where the family they help lives, so they can impact public services and local policy. I know this is helping a lot of people in my home state of West Virginia where hard times remain.

Give Someone’s Grandfather or Great Aunt What They Always Wanted

Grant a wish to a senior citizen. Volunteers for the Twilight Wish Foundation fulfill requests by donating items (like a home computer requested by a grandmother who wanted to email her grandkids) or by contributing their time. Learn all about it at twilightwish.org. Some wishes-like one from a retired postman who wanted to go over his old route one last time-require planning instead of money, and volunteers tend to choose items or actions that most speak to them.

Teach at Citizen School

Teach yoga, gardening, and more to middle schoolers. Reducing dropout rates by getting kids excited about learning is a major goal of Citizen Schools (citizenschools.org). Subjects covered in the 90-minute, 10-week after-school, volunteer-taught classes have included journalism, yoga, and architecture, with a focus on being “very interactive,” says Stacey Gilbert, Director of Media Relations. “Volunteers are encouraged to teach what they’re passionate about.”

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Overcoming wilderness obstacles-rushing rivers, steep hills, avoiding wild animals-builds confidence and helps under-resourced kids better handle inner-city obstacles. All of this is why Big City Mountaineers pairs adults with disadvantaged youths on weeklong backpacking and canoeing trips. If you don’t live in the regions where the organization primarily operates (Northwest, West and Midwest), check out Summit for Someone, a program that makes walk-a-thons look restful; participants fundraise for Big City Mountaineers by soliciting sponsorship for major climbing trips.

Power Your Life with the Positive

When life gets you down, remember to look on the bright side-and there is always a bright side. Be strong not just for yourself, but for those around you as well. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “ It is better to light a single candle than it is to curse the darkness.” Look into the meaning of this quote: focus on the light in your life-and if there is none, try to be that light.

“Attitudes are contagious.Make yours worth catching.”

-David Mezzapelle