1st Edition
How You Can Help An Easy Guide to Doing Good Deeds in Your Everyday Life
How You Can Help is a book for anyone who wants to help make the world a better place, but doesn't know how to take the first step. This is the book for anyone who's ready to get involved, to reach out to others, and to do some good. Whether you want to help make your neighborhood safer, to help local kids learn to read, to get involved with a woman's shelter, to make a donation to a national or international issue like AIDS, or to get your company to start a recycling program, How You Can Help will show you the limitless opportunities available, who to contact, and what stephs you can take to help make a difference. Directed at people of all ages, economic backgrounds, interests, and abilities, How You Can Help oulines over 60 basic principles for incorporating good works into your daily life. Equally accessible for the first-time volunteer looking for the right group to join as well as the veteran volunteer looking to found a new service organization. Each chapter contains profiles of well-known and not-so-well-known genuine do-gooders, simple suggestions on where and how to help, recommended readings, and contact information for local and national service organizations. How You Can Help provides specific advice on how to get involved for parents, neighbors, employees, consumers, investors, donors, retirees, students and alumni. This book is an indispensable resource that will give you the advice, the tools, the information, and the resources to help others.
Biography
William D. Coplin is Professor of Public Affairs and Director of the Public Affairs Program of the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University. He is the co-author of Power Persuasion: A Surefire System to Get Ahead in Business, which was selected by Fortune Magazine's Book of the Month Club.
"This book makes doing good a little easier..." -- American Way
"Shifting focus from self to others, William D. Coplin shows how to make the world a better place in How You Can Help: An Easy Guide to Doing Good Deeds in Your Everyday Life. The public affairs professor packs in self-assessment quizzes, suggested activities and extensive contact information before sending readers off to donate something (time, blood, talent, money) toward the enhancement of society. Purity of motive isn't an issue in this low-guilt book--action is. Deeming Mother Teresa an unworkable role model, he profiles 'genuine do-gooders,' such as a kindly school teacher who spent eight years of Sundays welcoming visitors to a harsh jail." -- Publishers Weekly
"This is a wonderful book. It will be enormously helpful to all individuals who want to make the world a little better. Would-be volunteers with only a few hours a week or a month to spare will find very good suggestions and resources for how to get involved. Would-be doctors and even philanthropists (big donors) will find very practical ideas for getting started. And for those who want to make doing good their life's work, there is also valuable information. We often hear that people want to get involved but don't know how. This book will make it impossible for anyone to use that excuse anymore. And best of all, it's written without jargon or preaching and with lots of passion and conviction." -- Sara E. Melendez, President and CEO, Independent Sector
"Highly inspirational...With clearly stated principles and real life examples, How You Can Help will inspire every reader to help make things better in our world." -- Jack Brill, co-author of Investing With Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference (1999)
"Finally we have a realistic roadmap which can be used to leverage our charitable giving and our volunteer time in ways that will genuinely improve society. This book includes all the component parts that anyone--regardless of age, sex, income level or political persuasion--can assemble into a powerful strategy that will truly make a difference." -- Curtis Weeden, co-author of Corporate Social Investing: The Breakthrough Strategy for Giving and Getting Corporate Contributions
"Bill Coplin shows how you can help, no matter who you are, what you are and where you are." -- Ralph Nader
