Serve Your Community
and Enhance Your Image

You’ve made it – you have a great position, a nice car, a great place to live, and all in all you are living very comfortably. But now what needs to be addressed is giving back. If it hadn’t been for the community that you live in and the clients that buy your products and services, you wouldn’t be anywhere. Not only will you make a difference in your community, but you will enhance your image and your ability to make money. More people will know you in a positive way but more importantly, you will be giving back to the community and making it a better place.

Many people forget that once they have made it or at a point where they are living a very comfortable life, that they need to give back. I once heard someone speak about making it to the top and she pointed out the importance of giving back to your community. So it is very important for your continued success but it also helps to connect more with your community and to give you a good feeling. Not only is it important for companies to be socially responsible and give back to their communities it is also important for individuals. Here are some ways that you can give back to your community and make a difference in the lives of others and yourself.

• Donate blood, plasma or platelets. This is something that I do and it gives me the opportunity to serve my community. After 9/11 people swarmed blood donation centers and gave blood or what they could. It helped to make a difference in the lives of those injured during that dreadful day. But blood is needed throughout the year, so do your part if you can and donate blood on a regular basis.

• Get involved with a local not-for-profit organization. I am a member and involved in our local symphony guild that raises funds for the symphony and for their music-in-the-schools program. When they had their annual home tour I was able to use my expertise to publicize the event.

• Work in a soup kitchen at a local mission, church, Salvation Army or Goodwill. Not just at Christmas and Thanksgiving but also throughout the year. If donations of food are needed use your professional expertise to get these donations.

• Become a Red Cross Volunteer. The Red Cross is a vital organization that has been there during crises nationally, locally, large and small. For example, the Red Cross provided a shelter for those that were evacuated from their homes during the wildfires in Southern California last October. They always need people to help.

• Volunteer at the local Animal Shelter, Humane Society or Rescue. If you are an animal lover as I am this would be something fun and worthwhile to do.

• Make donations of items that you don’t need or want anymore to Goodwill, Salvation Army, your local church thrift store or the American Cancer Society’s Discovery shops.

• Get a group of your friends together and make up a care package to send to the troops in Iraq. Whether you support the war or not, it is important that we remember our brothers, sisters, friends, wives and husbands that are serving over there. One of my friends has a son in Iraq and so a group of us are putting together a large care package for him and his platoon.

• Consider volunteering for Big Brother’s and Sisters and make a difference in a child’s life. You can make a difference one child at a time.

It doesn’t matter much what you do but giving back to your community is part of being successful. Some of the most successful corporations such as JC Penney’s, Sears, Visa, American Express, Starbucks and Wal-Mart give back to their communities through various programs. As an individual it is important that we give back to the communities that have helped us to be successful. Get involved and make your community better than before. Your gift may seem small but you will be repaid ten-fold!