Is FRIENDS a charity?
FRIENDS is not a charity and we don't accept any financial donations.
It's a genuine grassroots organization run completely by volunteers and our featured charities are all focused on helping children in practical ways. Since we're not a charity, and we don't record hours worked, we're not able to issue credits for volunteer hours. We believe that the very best volunteer experiences come from doing selfless acts without any form of personal payback.
What is a FRIENDS project?
Any small act of kindness given away at no charge can be a FRIENDS project!
While you're running your event you can give out contact information on our
featured charities to everyone you meet. There's also a space for you to add
your favorite charity's contact information if it isn't already listed.
We're asking people to help children living in poverty by giving as much as possible to child sponsorship organizations, but since we don't take money
for anything we do, we can't accept donations on behalf of the charities.
How can I get involved?
It's really easy to start up your own FRIENDS project!
Be creative and have fun. Here are some examples of projects that you can do...
Hand out coffee, tea, hot chocolate, soft drinks, lemonade, fruit, candy, chocolate, fortune cookies, baked goods. (Individually wrapped, store-bought are best).
Give away wild flowers, arts & crafts, stickers, used books, magazines, CDs, cassettes, clothing, promotional items donated by businesses or single samples
from large multi-packs.
Do musical or theatrical performances, wrap gifts, wash cars, clean eyeglasses,
shine shoes, shovel snow, give hand massages, braid hair, do face painting, carry
groceries, return grocery carts or offer an umbrella service on rainy days.
How about just putting FRIENDS information in mail boxes in your neighborhood
or handing it out at school or at work?
Why not just sell things or take donations?
Our basic philosophy is to lead by example - giving without expecting anything in return. We know that the time and money invested by FRIENDS volunteers in their own projects generates far more long-term financial support for child sponsorship organizations than the relatively small cost of running the project. Our goal is to encourage everyone to make a meaningful commitment to help children living in poverty, rather than just making occasional token donations.
Why don't some people do more to help?
If any of us came face-to-face with a child living in extreme poverty, dying from starvation or a preventable disease, it would just be our normal human reaction to want to do something about it. Somehow, living here in Canada, apathy and selfishness often seem like socially acceptable behaviors and we find it far too easy to either ignore the problems in the world, or tell ourselves that that we really can't do anything to fix them. We're counting on some very special people to show others how to live life at a higher level than they've ever experienced before - to get going instead of focusing on excuses. If you're one of those people, we hope that you'll consider starting your own FRIENDS project today!
