Don’t Be Frightened: It’s Just a Little Blood, Sweat, and Tears

I had to pick a little bit of a creepy title in honor of this Friday the 13^th blog right? Instead of blood and tears (we’ve all had enough of that!), let’s talk sweat, as in sweat equity. And no, we’re not talking about your 13 year old mowing the lawn so he can go out Friday night, we’re talking about your time and non profit organizations.

As you saw in Allison’s post earlier this week, a team of SummerHill employees volunteered their time to build some sweat equity at The Second Harvest Food Bank of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.  In some cases,  time can be worth more than money. Rita, the volunteer coordinator at the food bank, invited us to come back and work in the warehouse again in January, as they will have received so many donations that they won’t be able to get the fresh or perishable food out to those in need quickly enough!

Many of us will drop a few coins or a dollar in the Salvation Army’s signature red kettle on our way into a Macy’s or Safeway, but how many of us will be standing outside ringing that silver bell requesting those donations? Not many, because our own time is often more valuable than money.

Don’t get me wrong, if you have the money, please continue to donate! But if money is tight for you this year (as it is for many families), consider donating some valuable time to a local non profit. We had an absolute blast bundling sweet potatoes and carrots- it was a fun opportunity to hang out with friends and do something really special at the same time.

Not sure where to start? Google created a program recently that detects your location and finds LOCAL volunteer opportunities. Click here to see where you can volunteer.

And of course, please join SummerHill as we give back to our local communities by donating non perishable foods to the following locations from now thru Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Friday.