If you are someone who is brimming with compassion for your fellow human beings and feel compelled to make active, positive, physical changes to peopleโs lives and quality of their lives that they are perhaps unable to enact by themselves, then you have certainly come to the right place.
Thankfully, but certainly not before time, society in general has finally woken up to the fact that it is up to the current occupants of the Earth to make it a safer, more exciting, more naturally beautiful, and an overall healthier place, both for themselves and future generations.
With that being said, continue reading to discover the top seven most effective ways to make positive changes in and around your local community.
Declutter and Donate
One of the most cost-effective but entirely effective ways to make a real difference to others in your local community that are perhaps less fortunate than yourself is to conduct a full and thorough declutter of your home.
Anything you find that is either barely used, brand new, or could generally be of any use whatsoever to someone else, clean it as best you can and donate everything to one or more of your local charity shops. Not only will other people benefit from your unwanted household items and clothing, but you will be bringing much-needed income into the charity shop, which will have a more far-reaching effect too.
Consider a Career in Social Work
Obviously, if you are already ensconced in a professional career, then this point may not be for you, but if not, or if you are looking for a change of direction in your current career, there can be no better professional vocation than to become a social worker.
Community social workers work directly with both individuals and larger groups and families in and around the local community and directly impact and help change the direction of lives in a wholly positive way.
If you are interested in becoming a social worker, it is first necessary for you to acquire a bachelorโs degree in social work, followed by a highly advisable social work masters online or otherwise so you are professionally armed and equipped with all the information and research backing needed to directly encourage and even enforce change.
Support Local Shops & Small Businesses
Undeniably and somewhat frustratingly, the convenience and often the lower cost of everyday household items in large supermarkets are often unbeatable by smaller, local shops and new businesses.
However, if you can afford it, even always purchasing just one item that you regularly buy from a smaller business over a larger superstore will really make a difference, especially if you encourage your friends to follow suit.
Volunteer at a Food Bank
Even before the devastating impact on a wide variety of different communities and groups of people that the worldwide coronavirus pandemic had, more and more people across the length and breadth of the country were becoming increasingly reliant on food banks.
Essentially, a food bank is a safe haven for people who cannot afford to feed and clothe themselves and other members of their family and are designed to be a short-term solution and used in case of emergencies.
There are a wide plethora of possible reasons why an individual or family might need to use a food bank, which can include the following:
- Poor health and sickness
- Delays in benefit payments
- Higher fuel costs in and around the winter months
- Redundancy
- A sudden and unexpected loss of family income
- Debts
- Emergency bills or other unforeseen costs
- Penalties or reductions in benefit payments
Volunteering at your local food bank directly and wholly positively affects the local community as a whole and if you simply do not have the spare time to do so, make sure you donate any unwanted produce to your local food bank instead.
Help to Maintain & Keep Tidy Local Parks & Communal Areas
The simple act of, when walking in and around your local area, picking up any rubbish or trash that doesnโt belonging to you and placing it in the garbage bin is an entirely free way of helping to keep the local community clean and tidy.
If you would like to become more involved than this, however, there are a host of different charities and volunteering organizations that arrange group outings to places of natural beauty, woodlands, lakes, and even coastal areas where there is an almost constant need to help declutter, de-litter, and generally protect the land.
Not only will this make a big impact on the local area, but you may even meet someone with whom you form a genuine connection and make new friends as you are volunteering.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Reducing your carbon footprint is one of the most effective ways to quickly and extremely positively affect and impact your local environment, and as a result, your local community.
Recycling everything you use, avoiding buying packaging and other items that are made of plastic, only using the water in your home that you actually need, ensuring all your lights are switched off when not being used, and replacing your lightbulbs with new, energy-efficient ones are all important things that everyone should be doing in an effort to reduce the amount of carbon that is currently being pumped out into the atmosphere.
Utilize Public Transport
As well as all the other things you can do to reduce your own harmful, personal carbon footprint, becoming decidedly less reliant on your car and instead choosing to take public transport or, where feasible, cycling or walking to your destination will also make a real difference in becoming an eco-friendly citizen.
There are a wide plethora of reasons why cars are exceedingly harmful and generally bad for the environment, which include, but are still not limited to, the rising cost of fuel, pollution, the infrastructure of the local area, and the quality and cleanliness of the air.
