Volunteering Around

An interesting review—from the Toronto Star—about an interesting concept book.

An excerpt.

“Some people spend a year indulging themselves, travelling the world in grand style. Not Lawrence Scanlan. The much-published author and community service activist spent a year living generously in a highly innovative way to demonstrate that individual kindnesses are as important as big-bucks philanthropy. He chose to be a volunteer, rather than mere observer, at 12 Canadian-based or Canadian-supported philanthropic groups. It took him about a year, spending a month at each. The result is A Year of Living Dangerously: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Philanthropy (Douglas & McIntyre, 343 pages, $32.95).

“Scanlan never uses the word “charity,” which he regards as demeaning, to describe philanthropy. He concentrates on small, local agencies that “help the less fortunate” (his preferred term) around Kingston, where he lives, to emphasize what individuals can do in their neighbourhood. He covers a wide range of concerns: food, shelter, terminal illness, prisoner counselling, environmental damage, physical/mental disability, disasters and aboriginal educational disparities. (The Atkinson Charitable Foundation, which has longstanding ties to the Star, donated money to two groups in the book.)

“A big cast of admirable administrators, engaged volunteers and colourful recipients enlivens the story. Sometimes there is too much about Scanlan, such as lengthy detail about his non life-threatening cancer and his dog’s personality.

“Explaining that the original meaning of the Greek word “philanthropy” is “love for humankind,” Scanlan provides many memorable vignettes of individual Canadian philanthropy as well as the occasional misanthrope. There is the soup kitchen that insists on the more uplifting name “hospitality centre” and refers to those it helps as the “clientele,” or “guests.”

“An anonymous donor of $2,000 for warm clothes receives a discount from a merchant upon learning the reason for the purchase. A woman donates one of her kidneys to a stranger because it “felt like the right thing to do.” There are the mean-spirited who “donate” dirty laundry, broken mirrors, unwashed dishes, torn furniture, even dirty diapers.

“Seaton House, the city-operated shelter in Toronto, is so disliked by many homeless that they call it “Satan House” and prefer to sleep outdoors. Scanlan decries that Toronto officials are reluctant to open new homeless shelters because they are fearful more homeless people from across Canada will be attracted to what already is the nation’s homeless capital.

“Prisoners at Kingston’s Collins Bay Institution delightedly supervise an onsite Olympiad for mentally challenged adults. Queen’s University student volunteers at a hospice for the terminally ill say they learn about the value of “memories and simple things.” Scanlan says the card game euchre is liked by terminally ill patients because they can simultaneously chat and concentrate. Therapeutic horseback riding for the mentally and physically challenged comes from the ancient custom of placing wounded soldiers on horses because of the soothing motion.

“He notes that legal action can be more effective against environmental wrongs than angry protest. The mantra of the environmental group Lake Ontario Waterkeepers asks, “Can you sleep at night if you don’t act?”