“People Connecting” with Pay It Forward – Ottawa Volunteering

As our People Connector, Alex Darling has a primary role at LiveWorkPlay of recruiting and supporting volunteers, and there are more than 150 of them active in 2017! In addition to being matched with individual members (people with intellectual disabilities who are supported by LiveWorkPlay) to share mutual interests (and sometimes develop into a friendship) many volunteers also choose to take part in our Friday night meet-ups.

The meet-up concept certainly didn’t start with LiveWorkPlay, it’s been going on since the beginning of time, but has been popularized in a new way since the internet offered new opportunities for people to connect. Meetup.com talks about how it brings people together in thousands of cities to do more of what they want to do in life. “It is organized around one simple idea: when we get together and do the things that matter to us, we’re at our best. And that’s what Meetup does. It brings people together to do, explore, teach and learn the things that help them come alive.”

As Alex recently experienced, there are also meet-up groups that get together just to “do good” in their communities. When they aren’t out supporting local charities are cleaning up a park, they are getting together over a meal and drinks to come up with ideas for giving back. We always love being connected with people who understand reciprocity, social capital and interdependence, and so Alex was happy to accept an invitation to join the group at their gathering on March 16.

You can find out more about Pay It Forward – Ottawa Volunteering and if you are interested in volunteering with LiveWorkPlay you can start right here!