How I, as a Freelancer, can give back

I quit my job 2 months ago, joining the world of the funemployed. It was hard dealing with the lack of income. As much as I relished the relaxed lifestyle, I slowly began to worry about not having enough money to support myself. Then I went into freelancing. It yielded me to think about my priorities in life. The freelance life wasn’t too bad. Besides the liberty to control my schedule at my desire, I was still earning money underneath it all. How could I continue to give back without having a steady income? Scrap that, even if I had a steady income, would we give if we felt we were earning enough just to get by? The answer is yes. Even if we

But I got to thinking that this was the main reason many are reluctant to give back to their communities. In other words, only the rich, the philanthrophists, the ones who found they’d enough money, were the ones most likely to donate to a charitable cause. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are some ways we can contribute can contribute value back to our needy communities and put a smile on their faces.

Volunteering. Volunteering our time at charitable organizations can go a long way in giving back to the poor and vulnerable in our communities. For example, the Shan You counselling centre engages individuals to distribute food packets to the needy regularly. SINDA (the Singapore Indian Development Association) engages individuals to provide certain kinds of services to the community of those in need, such as tutoring services and administrative services.

Take Action. We can take action for the causes we care about, right in our individual neighbourhoods. For example, if you wanted to raise money for a cause you care about in your neighbourhood, like helping to keep a local business open, or building a crime watch task force, you could organize an event to raise money for something like that to happen, which would still be considered giving back.

Donations. Since I’ve become a freelancer and have had to cut back on my spending, it’s become known to me how many things I own but don’t really need. Luckily for us, there are many ways in which we can give these to others who need them more. For clothes, H & M has a recycling program where they accept old textiles and clothes where they will either try to recycle it or turn it into something new for other consumers to use. I’ve found this to be a great initiative. Another example is The Body Shop, who used to have a program accepting old plastic receptacles to be recycled. They now accept regular receptacles straight from the recycling centre (who collects your rubbish of recyclable material from the blue bins). I get a bit of solace knowing that my old things are given a new lease of life, and aren’t wasted.

So, you can give in many ways, not just money. In a world where technology has revolutionized the ways we value our worlds, one thing has emerged undeniable: that value, traditionally quantified by money, comes in different forms. GIVE aims to make it easy and effortless for us to contribute to our communities, and it really should be.

Note: The author begins work on Monday, and is no longer unemployed.