Driving Miss Daisy?

     One of the things I've wanted to do this year is to volunteer to drive senior citizens (or others in need) to doctor's appointments or wherever else is necessary.  I knew there must be programs like this that I could work through, but didn't quite know where, so I had to do some research.  I finally made some significant progress on that front today.

     It took some phone calls and some digging, but I found that The American Cancer Society has what sounds like a well-organized program called Road to Recovery.  The program takes requests from patients who need help getting to appointments and matches them with volunteer drivers.  I've now submitted all the required paperwork for participation and am scheduled for my official training a week from Monday. After that, assuming my drivers' license check is clean (!), I'll be on the schedule as an available driver.  I'm really looking forward to it as I know how vital a service it is for people in need.  I'm sure I'll meet some interesting people as well.  I'll post more about this after I do my first "assignment." 

     So far this year, virtually all of my acts of kindness have been solo efforts of my own creation, as opposed to volunteering within a specific program or organization.  While these will likely still represent the vast majority of my acts, participating in an organized program does present some outstanding opportunities for kindness.  There are several more like these that I have in mind, though they require some work - research, applications, training, scheduling, etc. - to get started.  I'll be working on moving those forward over the next few weeks so that they can become a more regular part of my schedule.  Stay tuned for more on this . . .