How to Give Back to Your Community

Strong communities are built by the members by whom it is composed. Teachers, service workers, and small business owners are just a few of the integral individuals who bring life to a community. Local events give a community its heart and personality, and now more than ever people are looking for new and impactful ways to get involved. Andrew Napolitano has served as a judge, an attorney, and a professor in the communities in which he has lived serving as a public figure while serving his community and encourages people to take part in giving back. 

Judge Napolitano has seen the impact that individuals can have on their communities and that communities can have on individual lives. There are always multiple ways to get more involved in a community if one is looking out for these opportunities, but the first step is always to be paying attention to local news and communication. This could be a city newspaper, a community Facebook group, or reading the bulletin board at the local library. It is often surprising to see how many events occur in the local community attempting to bring people together around a passion, creative interest, or for the betterment of society. Paying attention to such message boards may spark interests, hobbies, or passions that one never knew they had. It is important to identify those things that are important to the community and that could spark interest. It is difficult to truly become involved in any aspect of the community in which one is not actually interested. This could lead to burn-out of the activity or lack of a desire to get involved in the community again. Members of the community should always be logical with their time and resources so as to ensure a rewarding experience for both the individual and the community, and many of these activities can be very enjoyable!

One very positive way to become involved in the community and make a positive impact is to get in touch with a local food pantry. A sustainable way to go about doing this would be to set aside food from trips to the grocery store, extra non-perishable goods during the month, and set aside one day of each month to drop off food and other goods to the food pantry. In this way, a schedule is established for both the individual and the pantry which results in a more organized and sustainable process. Food pantries provide needed sustenance to multiple families in every community and are a fantastic way to give back to the community in which one lives.

One of the more fun ways to give back to the community is to focus on shopping locally. By diverting some of the clothing shopping one does online to a local boutique, money is generated in the local economy and directly supports individuals of the community.

There are so many ways to become involved in the community that are fun and sustainable that everyone should consider.