At PersonalGrowth.com, our mission is to help people as much as we can. Recently as a team we’ve begun finding opportunities to give back to our local community in New York—instead of just donating money, we actually spend the day with an organization helping out in any way we can.

Sure, it’s easy to write a check—but it’s beyond rewarding to be in the trenches with the people helping underserved communities.

Most recently, we visited The Metropolitan Community Church of New York (MCCNY). This isn’t just any church—it’s a progressive congregation devoted in particular to assisting people who are typically not accepted by their community, but reaches out a hand to anyone in need.

There’s a strong emphasis on social action, and MCCNY serves as a shelter for homeless youth, and provides a food pantry and meals to anyone in need several times a day.

The PersonalGrowth.com team spent the day making sandwiches and meals and passing them out to clients, and along the way learned about the real spirit of giving back.

Far too often, volunteering and other good social-action oriented work is overshadowed by fundraising galas and the pomp and circumstance given to large donations.

I was so gratified to see that nearly every single dollar given to MCCNY is transferred directly to clients in need for food and other services like shelter, counseling, and referrals.

If there is one thing we can encourage you to do, it is to get involved, somewhere and some way.

If you’re in the NYC area, and would like to volunteer or donate to the The Metropolitan Community Church of New York, please visit:

http://www.mccny.org

Otherwise, the United Way is a great umbrella organization to contact about volunteering across a wide variety of organizations:

http://www.liveunited.org/

What are some great organizations that you’re involved with? Please tell us by clicking the “Post Your Comments” link. Thank you.

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