by Honora Lee Wolfe

Last week the comedienne, Paula Poundstone, spoke out asking our
president-elect to "give us each an assignment" for how we can get our
country back on track and what sacrifices we could each make that might help create a better world. We have yet to be asked what we can do for our country by our president-to-be, but there are many ways we can start on the project by ourselves. What's more, as a practitioner with a small business, working to help our communities has the added benefit of being good marketing at the same time. How wonderful is that! So here are some ideas that are never out of style for how to do well by doing good.

Follow up:

1. Work with your favorite Food Share organization and put a collection box in your office. Offer a good discount to patients who bring in a full bag of non-perishable groceries.

2. Or use the same space to collect clothing and toiletries to donate to the local homeless shelter.

3. Join together with other business owners in your neighborhood to sponsor a trash pickup day or a graffiti cleanup campaign. Ask a local paint store to donate paint and brushes in exchange for the publicity.

4. If you live or work near an empty lot, ask the city if you can start a
community garden, or at least organize a tree planting weekend.

5. Donate your expired needles or herbals to projects such as the pan African Acupuncture Project or the Guatemalan Acupuncture Project.

6. Donate your services. A day or a half day per week at the local VA clinic, mental health clinic, or drug-rehab clinic, could make a difference in many lives. Or, if there is a free general medical clinic in a nearby neighborhood, find out if you could donate time there.

7. Look around and see what projects need doing in your community. If there is a volunteer clearing house, go and see what jobs they need to assign. Then see if you can organize a cadre of like-minded acupuncturists to share the load.

8. In what ways can you green up your office? Get an energy audit, look into green service providers, contact the local recycling service to make sure you are recycling everything possible from your office, and ask your product providers what they are doing to go green. Your patients will appreciate knowing that they are receiving care from the greenest practitioner in town!

If we all do a little bit more to share, save, conserve, and give back,
think of what wonders we could achieve. Thanks for reading.