It's a big week for good humanity

It's National Volunteer week.

I've signed up for an extra shifts on the RAINN Online Hotline. You can celebrate by going to idealist.org and finding something to do.

Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

Tomorrow is the National Day of Reason, which I will be celebrating. It's also the National Day of Prayer, which I will not. What about you?

Tomorrow I'm also going to be switching to the new blog name. The winner, with 61% of the votes is Hop To It. I'm not entirely sure how to do it, so things may get a little wonky around here until I figure it out. Thanks to everyone who voted on the new name!

RAINN online training

So I've been doing the initial 20 hours of online training in order to volunteer for the RAINN online hotline. I've been trying to do it a little bit at a time, because immersing myself in rape and sexual abuse statistics and stories kind of makes the days a little grayer. It's like a Law & Order: SVU marathon, only without Ice T or that nice feeling when the bad guys go to jail at the end of the hour.

Feeling shitty about your day? Maybe nothing is going right for you lately and you just want to catch a damn break. Consider volunteering your time with people who need it and you might notice that you don't have it so bad.

Internet Volunteerism II

I (unshockingly) passed the background check! Now I've got a lot to do before I can volunteer for RAINN's online hotline. It's a total of 40 hours of training, stretching all the way into February. Here's what I have to do next:

1) 10-hour online tutorial about rape and sexual assault
2) 10-hour online training program specifically about the Online Hotline
3) 14-hour in-person training which will be held on February 2-3, 2008.
4) 6-hours of supervision

It all sounds so intense and probably very uncomfortable. But y'know what? I'm excited! It feels good to have a goal with clearly laid out steps to achieve it. I'm going to start this weekend. Relevant updates to follow.

Previously.

Internet volunteerism

A few days ago, I mentioned a non-profit that I really like and support: RAINN. Like I said, it's so easy to say you're against rape and sexual violence. It's not so easy to be proactive in fighting it. Feeling motivated and inspired, I took my own advice and went to RAINN's volunteer page and applied to be an online support staffer.

It works like IM basically, which all my friends and I still use every day. (SRSLY, I've had AIM since I was 13 and briefly messed around with ICQ, Yahoo & MSN messengers, but we all know AIM is king.) RAINN's online hotline works a little differently in that it is a wholly self-contained system. Everyone has to go through the RAINN website, which is helpful because it's secure and free and anonymous. Someone who has been sexually assaulted for example, can just log on and talk to a trained volunteer and get some help.

I feel really good about this. In an increasingly digital world blah blah blah people my age and younger are communicating and finding information online blah blah blah. According to RAINN, 80% of victims of sexual violence are under age 30 and they are exactly the demographic this online hotline is shooting for.

So I submitted an application and now I have to wait to be contacted if they want me so I can set up a training session and then wait for a background check. Hope those youthful indiscretions don't come back to haunt me! (jk jk jk) I haven't heard back yet, so we'll see.