How to be a sofa activist
Save the planet with Jane Fonda. Be a digital buddy. Chat someone happy — all without leaving the safety of your home
YOU’VE got time, skills, and a desire to do your bit to make some changes that could help people. However, you can’t, or would rather not, venture from home.
Believe it or not, lockdown is an ideal time to help support causes and lend your time and talent to those in need. Here are some ways you can make a real difference right now, all from the comfort — and safety — of your own sofa . . .
Neighbourhood watch
THERE are numerous neighbourhood initiatives now operating in response to the pandemic, with volunteers liaising via WhatsApp or Facebook.
They are working to make sure the elderly aren’t too lonely, and that shopping and medicines get delivered. HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Volunteer Ireland have just launched their #volunteerfromhome campaign which focuses on what people can do to help from home. This campaign will involve promoting volunteering roles that can be done from home, supporting organisations to create volunteer from home opportunities and developing guidance and resources on how to manage volunteers from home. You can find more information on this at volunteer. ie.
You can also help by volunteering informally in your own community, for example by helping those in an at-risk category with their shopping or by collecting their prescriptions and so on.
You could become a volunteer for the Irish Red Cross, who are currently looking for new volunteers to help with the Covid crisis. Case monitoring, translation, talent acquisition, coding, and digital tool testing are all things that the Red Cross is regularly looking for help with. see red.crossie/ volunteerinyourcommunity/
SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIRED: time. Join Jane Fonda
mostly,
THE pandemic appears to have temporarily quietened climate change discussion, but actress Jane Fonda is working with Greenpeace to keep awareness levels high.
The 82-year-old had been leading Fire Drill Friday civil disobedience protests across the U.S. in response to teenage campaigner Greta Thunberg’s Fridays For Future school strikes. The name is a reference to Thunberg’s environmental alarm call of: ‘Our house is on fire!’ Fonda is urging people around the world to join her online for a virtual Fire Drill Friday each week to keep the environmental crisis at the front of our minds.
She posted an exercise video, like those she made in the Eighties, on the social network TikTok, urging fans to register their support. HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Visit
to firedrillfridays.com find out more. Enter your email address in the ‘Join Us’ tab to learn about ways to be involved.
You can also follow Fire Drill Fridays on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep updated on ‘teach-ins’ (rather than the usual sit-ins) and see celebrity appearances every Friday. SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIRED:
Strong feelings about saving the planet.
Share tech skills
EXPLAIN the benefits of online tools such as Skype, FaceTime or WhatsApp to any elderly people with whom you are in contact. You can also offer to help them search for any items they might need online. You could teach them how to subscribe to Mail+ so they can read their favourite newspaper on a phone or tablet. Go to mailsubscriptions. ie for the current amazing offer of three months free. SPECIALSKILLSREQUIRED: An understanding of social media and the internet.
Go global
EVEN if you don’t leave home, modern technology means you can still lend your help to causes around the world.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Head to
onlinevolunteering.org/en, a UNbacked organisation which aims to help volunteers from many fields team up to tackle world issues.
Volunteers can pick from up to 300 online tasks at 3,000 organisations by clicking on ‘Browse all opportunities’.
Many tasks are Covid-19-related and ask for skills such as writing and proof-reading, art and design, technology development, research, admin and teaching.
SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIRED: This is tailored to your own skills.
Offer your sight
THE blind or partially sighted can struggle with simple tasks such as checking expiry dates or reading instructions.
The charity Be My Eyes puts volunteers around the world in touch with those who are in need and potentially isolated at home, to help solve tasks big or small. HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Go to bemy
eyes.com and download the free app, which lets you offer visual assistance through a video call. SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIRED: Good eyesight.
Foster a dog, sew a mask...
FROM sewing masks at home to getting children to make art for local nursing homes, to making a friendly phone call, there are lots of things that a family can do together to help from home.
Dogs Trust has a new has launched an initiative offering temporary foster care for the dogs of frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 crisis. See dogstrust.ie to learn how to sign up to foster a dog while their owner work to save lives. SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIRED: patience.