Volunteers and Community Service
The Work of Online Volunteers
The volunteers who run our favorite groups on Facebook, Reddit, Nextdoor or Discord can make all the difference between our being part of a treasured community online or a gathering that descends into name-calling chaos. New research that tried to put a dollar figure on this work made me want to explore two questions: Why […]
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New Zealand’s Biodiversity Crisis Prompts Extreme Measures
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The volunteer clambered down the cliffs, progressing along a series of knots on a thin rope as he made his perilous way about 100 feet down a steep rock face to the small box that he needed to refill with poison. It is one of thousands of such boxes, many in […]
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As Border Crossings Soar, Biden Relies on Shelters to Manage Influx
SAN BENITO, Texas — When seven newly arrived migrants were released from government custody on a recent afternoon with nowhere to stay the night, an emergency shelter in this small border city answered the call, sending a volunteer to make his fifth such pickup of the day from nearby Brownsville. The shelter, La Posada Providencia, […]
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Looking to Help Ukrainian Refugees? A ‘Voluntourism’ Guide
Ultimately, we decided to spend two weeks in Krakow with A Drop in the Ocean. The volunteers we worked with came from Norway, Italy, the Republic of Georgia, Germany, Spain, the United States, England, Ireland and Poland. They are currently short on volunteers and desperately need help. Russia-Ukraine War: Key Developments Card 1 of 3 American […]
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How Roe Shaped the World of Work for Women
When Barbara Schwartz looks back at her younger days working as a Broadway stagehand, she remembers the electricity of it: the harried dancers slipping into their costumes backstage, the props people shoving past with flashlights between their teeth. She was able to throw herself into that high-pressure career, she said, because of a choice she […]
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Ahead of Philippines Election, Young People Rally Around Leni Robredo
VALENZUELA CITY, Philippines — John Benvir Serag knocked on doors in the working-class neighborhood, wearing his pink “Youth Vote for Leni” T-shirt and holding a stack of fliers. He has spent nearly every day in the past month trying to explain to strangers why Leni Robredo is the best person to lead the Philippines. “What […]
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