Living Left

Giving Back: Is Charitable Service Part of Your Midlife Journey?

• Ann-Marie Burton, Tanya Garcia • Season 1 • Episode 8

Share episode

We explore how to turn midlife time into meaningful service, moving from good intentions to simple, repeatable actions that build purpose and community. We share practical ideas, stories from local charities, and ways to make giving feel easy, social, and deeply human.

• Difference between community roles and outward-facing charity
• Midlife as a window for service and purpose
• Easy entry points to volunteering with friends
• How giving circles amplify small contributions
• Examples from United Way and local charities
• Turning parties and traditions into donation drives
• Teaching kids the why behind giving
• Lending professional skills to nonprofits
• Building consistency with quarterly commitments
• Invitation to join our Leading Left events

If you felt this one, share it because what’s left isn’t less, it’s everything


Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy.

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

SPEAKER_02:

This is Living Left, the raw space where we redefine success, purpose, and identity through honest, unfiltered conversation. We're navigating business, family, change, chaos, one left turn at a time. It's not about finding what's next, it's about owning what's left. Join us and let's go there. Hi, Tanya. Hi, Anne-Marie. How are you today? I am great. We're back on this podcast. Yeah. Our little weekly routine. Look how good we're doing. I'm enjoying it. And I and I, you know what? Even if it's just for us, I enjoy our visit every week. I do. But I think slowly we might be getting some people listening, which is great. So hello to anyone who's listening. And we have a new topic kind of related to some of the past topics, but it's about giving back volunteer activism, that kind of piece, but how it relates to midlife time that we now have, wanting to make sure that it's fulfilled, fulfilling, purposeful, community-based, time spent. And so if you're listening to this, we're recording it um in late November. So it's it's starting to be close to holiday season and and giving back is a topic. So we thought, well, how can we tie this into our life? And we thought this is a really great opportunity because we're doing a few things with our company where we're giving back. We have been doing some networking in this space, and also we have some personal interests. So I thought we would we would chit-chat about it. So do you want me to kick us off or what why don't you?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, let's first say you are the driver of this, and I love you for it, because I think before I met you, I wasn't as disciplined in making sure I made the time. Um, so what I loved, I think, you know, even when we started the agency, this was like your number one goal, right? One of the key goals is that you could kind of continue in the space because it's near and dear to your heart. So I think you should actually start that off by talking a little bit about that and why, Emery. Um, because I think it gives context as to why we are so um intentional about it throughout the year, because that is entirely you. I'm I'm I I enjoy doing it, but I love you know that this is a big part because it makes it easy for those of us who are not as great at organizing that sort of thing. So I think it's important that you take some credit and you share maybe some of your whys.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, okay, sure. Thank you. Well, I don't know. First of all, I would say I don't think I do nearly as much as many people I'm like like can.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so that is what I think is hilarious because I do virtually like other than the short, easy. Do you want to top off your purchase? That sort of thing. You think you don't do nearly enough. And I'm here to say you do do a lot versus maybe some of us who really don't do nearly enough, Amory. So go ahead.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, let's discuss this because I have, I feel that service is important. I think it's really important to give back to communities and and some of those maybe charitable places that you know that we are not actually uh receiving the benefit. Like, thank goodness I don't have to receive the benefit of the food bank, but I have volunteered with the food bank and I was on the food bank local food bank board for a few years. Have volunteered with a charity called The Gift of Giving Back, which came into my life through my kids' hockey, where it's the largest food drive in Canada. So have coordinated and worked through that organization and given my time. Um, but I do think that a really easy way to give back, which a lot of parents do, is we get really involved in their activities. So whether it is, you know, the hockey club may be technically a nonprofit, but it's it's it's organized to benefit your kids or being part of the school council is also important. And I've done that, but it's benefiting my kids at the end of the day. But I do find those are really great ways to meet people, like whether it's parent council, whether it is um, you know, I've done a lot of work with hockey, volleyball, football, and various roles, like team management, social media, coordinator, my husband coaches, like there's a lot of that kind of giving back to the community, which I think is really important and honestly has been a huge um, you know, go back a few podcasts, it was a huge part of my social life as well. Like I think it's so it was contributing in many emotional ways. Like there's lots of benefits to that kind of contributing.

SPEAKER_01:

So talk about those for a minute. Like you say it is it's important to do that. So why is it important to do that? Other than the obvious to give back, but talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02:

So for those, for me, for me, I guess it depends on the person. For me, I like to be engaged in what we're doing as a family. Um, and I think that also demonstrates that you know, many hands make light work, so your kids see and that you're contributing and you're part of that community, and you get to meet people and be part of the community. And so that to me is just a really great model to show your children, and I and I personally have feel like I can make a difference in small ways. Um but that is when I think about giving back, like I don't actually I limp that in a separate bucket. Okay, I look at that as a great way to be involved in your community and to meet people and help your kids. Yeah, because if I'm involved in parent council, then probably that sidebar benefits the school and my children. So they're part of that. If I am working with the food bank and or United Way or some larger organization that is helping people that are less privileged or um, you know, raise money for a cancer society or something like that, where that's a that's bigger than me, but that doesn't have a direct impact in me and my family currently. And I hope we it won't. It it it may like it, it can. Like there's a lot of people using that food bank right now in this economy that probably didn't need it a few years ago. So, I mean, it's again, it's like putting good karma and good just good things into the world. And I just think it's really important to be part of those things. Now, there's loads of ways to be part of it, so financial contribution. So when you top up at the cash, that money speaks volume, so that is definitely important, and I think that at the bare minimum, everyone should be giving a little bit where they can when that feels comfortable to them, right? But I'm now looking at involve getting involved in charitable organizations in a different way than I did like 10 years ago when my life was so full, and the only way I could have was around my family. This feels like an opportunity for the next 20 years or more to do more, and that's why you see so many retirees 100%. Right? So I I think it just what I'd love to talk about is ways that you know, find charitable organizations or spaces that are inspire you. Um and what are the ways that you can help out, and how can you also maybe use it as a way to meet new people and fill that time that we were talking about in like I don't know, episode two, three, four. Like in there. I think that there's just a really nice space here. That's that's really so that's where I'm going, and I'm thinking um that's what we should talk about because through Left Turn, obviously we have our agency that we sometimes reference, and we have a leading left, which is a networking group for professional women. And like tomorrow we have organized to join in on a United Way event, um, which is a women's group called Women United through uh United Way, and we'll be raising money and gifts for teen girls for Christmas, and that's a nice little event. We're bringing eight guests with us along from Leading Left. I to me that ticks all the boxes for me because we're doing something fun, we're having a connection with other people, and we're raising funds and helping. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's not hard. No, it's not hard. Yeah, I do agree with you. I think, you know, again, in particular at this time where, you know, what we've been talking about is in midlife, there are there are the shift or the left turn that happens is to your point, time. You have more time if your kids are off to uni and you just don't have all those schedules. Um, there might be a gap when we were talking about um our last uh podcast around friendship and the need to fulfill kind of the gap of um connection and community and um, you know, joy and happiness, like if if it was so very much tied to, you know, the people who were in your lives for 18, you know, plus years and now that no longer exists, how do you fill, how do you fill that gap? Um, and I like this conversation and or kind of being great friends with you because I will be honest, this wouldn't be a natural place for me to go, oh, I should do that. You talk about it loosely, but I think um, you know, we all think about okay, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna exercise more or I'm gonna do like stuff for me, me, which is important, right? Like you you do need self-um care, self-care. You do. And in a lot of cases, this is us finding time back to finally take the time to um feel well and be well. Um, but also what we know is that the idea of happiness and joy and health and feeling good is by acts of service. And that's of service 100%. And I think that's that I think let's talk about that because for me, that is not a natural place I go. I'm great, I'm grateful that I have you that will pull me in. So I think you think that everyone would be like, yeah, of course, that's awesome. I'm gonna do that tomorrow. I'm here to tell you to represent the most of the rest of the crowd who's like, yeah, that feels a little harder. It feels a little bit more not uncomfortable, but more like, where do I begin? What do I do? So I'm here to say, first of all, find a friend who just loves to do that, and that's just the easiest way, and just say yes to going. Um, but I think we have to talk about acts of service in it is good for you too, right?

SPEAKER_02:

It's yeah, it's like giving a gift. Like when you give a gift at Christmas, like it's fun to receive gifts, but when you give a gift and it you feel like you feel better. You've planned that, you've given so to me, giving your time, like let's like I'm in my mind about time, and that time can catapult up into fundraising, support, all those things. But if you just give a little bit of your time to thinking about some of these agencies that need our help, and what does that time look like? So it can be, you know, a repeat volunteer service time, which I have not built into my life. Like that is not a like I'm not going every Friday afternoon to help at a particular agency, like when I'm, you know, down the road, maybe. Yeah, maybe, but that's not, I'm not in a regular, but I know when I was on the food bank board, like they have regular shifts of usually retirees who come in and work. You're on the Monday shift or the Tuesday shift or whatever, whatever, and the best of friends are made in those groups. 100%. I don't know if we're we're not in that state space. We are still working. Yeah, so in the day. Um, but I think that there are regular things like I joined the hundred women of Burlington Who Care. That's four times a year. We come together, we listen to um presentations by three to four nominated charities, and then you all we vote, and then we pick one charity and they get a hundred dollars times however many people. So it's like ten thousand dollars. So that happened last week. That to me is a regular recurring event that is a nice thing that I feel like over time I will meet new people. And I went last week and I brought uh a few friends uh from Leading Left and from my friend group. And I know my friend I picked her up, and she said, Oh my goodness, she was so excited. She's like, This is what I need. She's in the same life space as me. And she said, I feel like an adult, like this is an adult thing we're doing, we're going. And we went and listened to the three charities, and one was Halton Learning Foundation, one was Alzheimer's Society, and the other was Environmental Burlington Green. Three very different service-based organizations. They give a presentation, and I learned so much in that half an hour of presentations. It's like Dragon's Den for charities. It's 10 minutes. That's amazing. And in those presentations, you can be inspired to say, oh, like Burlington Green, great example. Like they clean up the beach around Lake Ontario. They they do that for hundreds of people. That's a really easy thing that if you wanted to be part of, you could show up to help clean up the beach once a year, or maybe you clean up a neighborhood park in their name and find out that there's and and that's the kind of stuff like my kids have grown up. We live on green space. April, I just throw it, give them all gloves in a trash bag and we go clean up behind when they were young. It was very we always did it, but I didn't do it in the name of Burlington Green, I just did it. So now I'm thinking, oh, if you that I didn't realize that they were doing all those things, so that's easy. But if I didn't know about them, yeah, like to your point, maybe people don't know about they don't.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, again, look, your friend in the car, and she was like so excited that she was going with you. I do think we can't underestimate the need for people to be introduced, especially, you know, I'm not talking about the 20-something year old who it's inherent in who they are. Like your kids would be great examples, um, and who kind of naturally look for those because they've been taught to, you know, kind of look for that sort of things. There is a vast number of individuals who would love and don't know where to start, and and giving time for a few minutes seems like doable, but it's like of all of the charities, where do I start? What do I begin with? Um, so what I love that you're doing as part of Left Turn and Leading Left is organizing events um that you're interested in or you're aware of and inviting people in to just see what it's like and go. So, you know, my my um to those who are listening, you know, it's say yes to those um as much as you can because that's just a really nice entry into this world that I just don't think is as accept or available. Like there's just a lot of us, and I'm gonna put myself in that camp, who've talked about it but have never we're not as disciplined as you are, like at all, right?

SPEAKER_02:

And you know, it's funny, I was talking to my friend in the car, and we were saying, what's changed over time? Like I think as a culture in Canadian, like if you go back to when we were small children, like it people were more focused on service groups. So whether it was like through a church or religious association or the Lions Club or those service-based organizations used to fundamentally organize all the good things for our communities, right? So you were either linked through church or school or through one of these service-based organizations. The world has shifted. Like, who do you know that's part of the Lions Club? Like old men are part of the Lions Club, like we're not supporting in that way. So there needs to be groups like leading left, there needs to be groups like 100 Women Who Care to bring and also we're busier, we're way busier than our parents were at this age and stage. A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01:

There's and the internet means there's like I we're inundated with the the ask of giving in some capacity, right? Like it was when it was more focused and centralized. Um, but you're right, you need an aggregator of what is within that community, and there's few who some are connected, and how do you kind of bring that awareness to other people? I also think the world has shifted. So, in everything you said, but while while we're way more connected because of the internet and social media and all of that, we're also very focused on our own needs more than ever. Yes. I think, you know, the media centered than we're more self-centered. It's all about what's in it for me. Yeah. You know, A, first of all, we're all so much busier than we used to be. Um, so any amount of time feels like feels like not as easy maybe to give as maybe it once did when life was simpler. Um, but also there's uh what's in it for me in all of the things. What am I gonna get out of it? Well, imagine if it actually is not doesn't have anything to do with what you're gonna get out of it. Yes, right.

SPEAKER_02:

That should be the point.

SPEAKER_01:

That should be the point. But I'm just saying I don't think it's as that's not as obvious. And and I think as a later in stage, you appreciate that giving back is actually the or giving with no transactional requirements is actually the ticket. And you don't know that, obviously, at a younger age, that makes sense that that's not as top of mind because unless you were maybe brought up very specifically in that, it's like I need to build a family and build my wealth and build like it's it's it's all about consumerism. You need to because you need to build this life. And then when you realize none of that actually matters, your kids have left, you know, we're in this stage, your mind. I'm saying from someone who was very driven to do things as we always said, turn right, turn right, turn right until I was like, what's over to the left over here? Because I've been conditioned to believe that this is the way to happiness. And listen, love my life and grateful for everything. When you actually realize the ticket is has nothing to do with you, yeah, and has to do with, you know, giving forward, then everything is so much. So I just don't think it's as obvious. Let's just not assume that that is something that everyone has come to light with.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so then let's say here's my suggestion then is when there are moments and opportunities in your life, and right now holiday season, it's rich with these opportunities, is to take it a next level. So for example, I'm gonna, we're having a Christmas party. I don't want anyone to bring any presents. What I want them to do is bring donations for the food bank. There'll be a big bucket. I'm hoping my whole front porch is full of food. Easy. It's inspiring people to give. When you clean your closets out in January, please do not drop it off at some place that's gonna resell it for their benefit. Please drop it off at one of the many, many charities, whether it's Salvation Army or Compassion Society or any of these places that are gonna either sell it for a low amount and the proceeds go to help, or give it away to someone who truly needs it for free, like I like our local would be Compassion Society. Um, when you are doing birthday parties, so for many years, my kids they would fight me on this, but then it just became what they did. They did not get presents from their friends. Instead, they got a link and it don't they picked a charity, and the percentage went, and I forget now the name of the company that did this, but it was two moms who created this company. It was brilliant. And um, it would say, My child is saving for XYZ. And I think it was like 50% of what you donated went to the child, and 50% went to uh donation. So you maybe got your American girl doll at the end of it versus lots of little things, but you also donated equivalent amount to a charity. So start to put in little components. So we are having a holiday gathering for our team. We are going to United Way warehouse, we're gonna sort and organize the gifts that are gonna go out to the families. We're gonna work hard for that morning, and I mean that has a quantifiable thing for to give our the time of our whole team to go there, but that's team building, and that's that it's introducing them to fantastic ways of for them to give back, and then we'll go have our holiday lunch. But instead of going to do something that's silly and maybe not meaningful, we're gonna go give back there. Yeah, we have holiday traditions. I'm rambling now, but I'm like, these are just no, this is what I think people need to hear.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, yes, and and again, back to your original statement is you don't think you nearly do enough. I'm telling you, if this was like a spectrum of like those who don't do anything and those who do a lot, like you're on the other side, dude. I don't think so because I know there's so much more I can do. Of course there is, but I'm I'm here to tell you and listeners, please respond with who you think is right. Is it Tanya? And not because we're not like I'm not saying because we're ungrateful, terrible people. I'm just telling you, in the grand scheme of things I need to accomplish in the day, that will be the bottom of my list. And that's an area of growth for me. It is like life is full. I'm exhausted. All of those reasons. I will actually choose the gym versus that. So it's like you got, I agree with you, midlife. We're in a different time, we have more time. You gotta just force yourself out of a behavior change. If that is just not the natural way you went, if you agree to that, then it's like, what do I do next? It's overwhelming out there. So list your things, Anne-Marie. And I think, you know, for our listeners, the big one is like leading left is the perfect way of if anything, let us know. We'll put you on that list because that's where you that's a huge component of that, and where you'll continue to ensure that that group is connected to what's happening and what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02:

And we have a we've kind of we'll launch it more fully into in 2026, but we have something called left turn lending, which is let's talk about that. Really, what we're gonna talk about there is two things. We'll be lending our expertise and our voice to causes, topics. So that might be entrepreneurialism, it might be women-owned businesses, but it might also be very charity-focused. That is the other big piece. So lending professionally and then lending and raising money awareness for charitable causes. So, right now we just did United Way, that's tomorrow. That's a hundred women who care. That was last week. Um, and actually trying to do more with less. Like, how can we how can we lift up some of these organizations? And and again, listen, I want to lift up with like we don't have gobs of money to donate, but we have brilliant ideas. We have we have time, like we have manpower, woman power. Like, I have we have a lot of woman power.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, like they can get a lot done in a short amount of time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we filled a whole table last week, and two of those women converted to join, which means they're gonna contribute a hundred bucks every time they go. We have eight, nine people going to the United Way tomorrow. I, you know, last year um there was an organization, I think it's called Holiday Helpers. I forget the I anyway. It's uh you wrap gifts and it's kind of like United Way, but it's just for Christmas. And so I'm doing that in a couple Fridays. I already sent it out to my friends that who wants to wrap gifts with me and build the packages. I got a bunch of ladies going because we have our flexible Friday, so I can do that on my Flexible Friday. And then the next morning, my husband and I are gonna go deliver them. Amazing. I did with my kids last year, and it was crazy impactful when you are filling up your car and you're like Santa Claus and you go and deliver this to people truly in need, you're going into buildings or areas that you maybe that's not where your friends live. And it's eye-opening. It is very eye-opening. And even when I just said, Oh, I don't have a lot of money to donate, in comparison to some people, we have a lot. Yes, we have privileged and privileged. I think it's particularly this time of year, it's important to remember that we have a lot and we have safe, warm homes. We are surrounded by safe, warm people. I mean, there's shelters you can support. There's there's just so many ways to to, I just feel like it's like supersizing what you're already doing. So you're building traditions with your family, whether that's around the holidays, you're you're already entertaining. So make it supersize it. Ask them for the food donation. Um, if you're doing, if you're into athletics or like my husband, when he he hasn't run a marathon for a while, but when he did, he did it not just he did the Scotiabank run, but he did it through the lymphoma and leukemia society. So he raised, I think, six or seven thousand dollars. My dad was sick with that at the time. It was yeah, it you know, like instead of yeah, the running is a massive thing, but you can also do it in honor of something bigger than yourself. Yeah, that's great. So those are just small things that I never really talked about this, so I didn't really think it was unique.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. I did not. I keep telling I keep telling you that it it is not unique, but it is a special um characteristic and value of yours that uh I think is is in all of us. You know, it's hard to say that, you know, but the actioning of it is a very I think that's what is um not unique, but that is what is fewer and far between. Is there's one thing we all want to do it. We I mean, listen, we've worked with charitable organizations, we know this, right? Inherently in humans. You want to do good, but you have to sometimes like pull people through. You know, it's not just easy like give today. Like that is it is saturated in our everything we hear, but you have to find ways to actually execute it. So you have that's one of your superpowers. You've just done that. You clearly probably your parents did that with you, like it came from somewhere. It's a beautiful gift. So this podcast is about letting people know that this, these are the things that left turn, leading left, you know, left turn lending, like these are the things because of you that we want to create broader impact. Great. Um, but we're also here to help kind of guide people to find a way that they can do that. And I think that's the point of what we're trying to say.

SPEAKER_02:

If we all just paid a little bit more attention, yeah, 100%. Like, if oh, you're like my kid's high school is doing a coat drive for, you know. So okay, great, pay attention, they're doing it. Actually, find something to donate, and then take the five or ten minutes it is to look up the organization that's collecting the coats and have a conversation with your kid about it before they just drop off the coat. Sure. So there's context. It's literally just extra five or ten minutes of learning about where that's going, or there's a mitten drive or a sock drive, or you know, it doesn't, it's it doesn't mean you need to volunteer every week, you know, in Hamilton at Gage Park and walk around with those unhomed people. Like that is also a fantastic volunteer opportunity, but you don't have to do that, you can just organize the sock drive or contribute to the sock drive.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I think the other thing you you just mentioned that is like kind of hit home to me because I don't think we had we had enough of those conversations in our house, um, is the conversation, right? It's about, I mean, we had a lot of conversations about a lot of things everyone does about what is important to them, but from a charitable stand, because I didn't come from that, um, that wasn't just something even I grew up with a hundred percent. So I don't think there was enough context to have those conversations. But to your point, if you just have that five or ten minute conversation with your kids or those around you, that's just kind of a little light bulb that goes on that that person then can grow can grow in that human, right? It's Um, so it to your point, it doesn't even have to go as far as time beyond you just attach it to your school thing. But if you take the five to ten minutes to just sit down and go, Do you know what this is about? And this is like, let's do some research together. Um, you light a little fire, and and that's grows to be ultimately even more impactful in the world down the road as they grow and they want to do do more things. So I think that's a really good point as well. It can be that easy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I and that's to build on that, I think another reason we don't know is that we have these massive umbrella organizations now, like United Way is a fantastic example of one. They're doing great things, but within the umbrella are many, many, many organizations. Like there's food insecurity, there's you know, safety, there's poverty, there's um like so we donate to United Way, people might not understand that that's going to hundreds and hundreds of organizations. You can even say you want it to go to a certain area, but they maybe are not learning all the things because we just hear United Way. Yeah. And and I don't work in the charitable space, so I don't know. There's probably lots of other examples like that. Um, but taking the time to learn about these people, and that's what I loved about the hundred women who care. Like it is the executive directors or someone from the organization getting up to talk, like the Alzheimer's one. Man, she got up to talk about um well, and the other thing is what would they do with$10,000? And so a fantastic because they actually it's they're literally pitching what they would what the$10,000. So they were so if you think about Alzheimer Society, I luckily knock on wood, have not had someone in my family had to use those. But you would think it's like counseling and support and care and maybe um organ like taking them out of their home, like respite, things like that, which is totally what it is. But the$10,000 for them was gonna go towards actually um kind of like toileting products and things like this, because they don't remember to go to the washroom. Wow. And the and that's just one more cost for these families to go towards. And and you could just sit there and you could see the whole room like that's what it would go for. And maybe that's not a doesn't feel like a sexy idea, but you realize, oh my god, wait a second. I didn't even think about that. That's one more thing that those family and those caregivers are going through on a daily basis, and that could just be the difference. Like it's dignity, you're bringing dignity, yeah. So$10,000 is a lot of money, but it's also not a lot of money. It's interesting to hear what they would actually that's amazing. Anyway, that was one. So I'm I don't know how where we offer time, but I just I think we're pretty much really encouraged. Yeah, I just want to encourage people to think about how are the small ways to just supersize what I'm already doing.

SPEAKER_01:

Love that.

SPEAKER_02:

So if I'm gonna make, you know, like this holiday season, I'm looking for new traditions because that's another thing with growing families. Like maybe they don't all want to go visit Santa anymore. Maybe we don't get to do Elf on the Shelf. Like, what are the new traditions? One of the things that we do is we have a family scavenger hunt with my brother and his family and our family, and we tie in giving back moments into this, like as we zip around the city. Um, and we give the kids a budget and they shop at the grocery store, and then we drop it at the food bank, and then um we will find other things that are going on. Um, another thing I was thinking as they become older, 18 plus, um giving blood, like that's a big one too. Big one, like that's a big one. Um, and you can check to see if you actually are able to donate blood online before you go in so it's not embarrassing. Oh, nice in case your big kid has a new tattoo. Well, in case your kid has a new tattoo or a or disease we shouldn't, we they haven't told us about.

unknown:

Like you can't.

SPEAKER_02:

Like piercings. Yeah, there's some reasons. But that's a great idea. Yeah, but like that that or helping out, like one of my kids is coming home from school and we're gonna donate our time and prepare gifts and wrap gifts or go be a bell ringer at the Salvation Army, like all those things are available online. Yeah, like if you're looking for ways to and then after the holidays, I think that's actually when it's harder to find. Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_01:

And then um, you know, continuing that forward, right? Which then comes down to that's where I will plug. If you can then connect yourself with individuals who kind of have their pulse on it all the time. So, like leading left is a great example of that, right? Where you throughout the year will look at organized events and things, and and it's through that that just makes it easier for some people who are not as tapped in or used to knowing where to look.

SPEAKER_02:

So well, and I'm sure there's service, there's service-based organizations out there, like there's alliance, like isn't the um junior league, or I don't know. There's I'm gonna look it up. I'm gonna find I'm sure you will.

SPEAKER_01:

I have no doubt that you will, and I will just wait for you to tell us what we're doing, and that works for me too. Love that.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my gosh. And yeah, I have other ideas, but I'll hang on. I'm just asking people to open their heart, open their heart, and find some nice people to be with who are giving of their time and spirit and energy. And hey, if we have some money to give, awesome. Yeah, that's awesome, but it doesn't have to be financial.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think, but to your point, is is we're now entering an age and stage where it's likely not enough. Like what I think is the big um challenge you have is all of this is familiar to us in some capacity, right? Especially if you've had kids or through your office. Like we get that. But what we're challenging now is you can no longer use, I don't have enough time. Yeah. Like, where do you can't? So you now have a bucket of time. So back to everything we've been talking about to date at this age and stage, it's like, what do you do a to redefine how you've moved through life, right? To which will help you kind of rediscover who you are and what passions you have. You know, we've talked about all of the things. Um, friendship was the last one. So now we're challenging you with the idea of acts of service that go beyond even just your little group of people you see all of the time. That will, you're giving your time, you're giving yourself, but what you will get back from that is this idea of fulfillment and purpose and joy and connection. And um, so so for all of us at this age and stage, it it it should be very attainable this year. Um and just some little bits and bobs.

SPEAKER_02:

We don't need to give up full days of the week to go, although I wouldn't mind down the road. Like, you know what I would do.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we'll have more even more time than we do now.

SPEAKER_02:

Like, I'd like to go, I'd like to go hold newborn babies if that's a thing. I don't know. Hold what? Newborn babies, like you know, like like I think you can do that. I think that's yeah. I I there was candy striped volunteer when you're younger. There's gonna be there's always but you see retirees in the hospital, that's probably what they do. But I'm just saying there's I don't know if they hold the babies, but I would that's what I wouldn't mind doing. Yeah. Now that I have nobody should nobody to hold.

SPEAKER_01:

I want a little human to hold. I get that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, or like if you're really into animals, the like the animals. Well, 100%, like the humane society, like or you want to help new Canadians, like a whole or fostering people, or I was more saying animals. I don't know if I'll foster a human at this, but agencies, but maybe, yeah, or support people that are new to the country that need like you know, just sponsor a family. There's so many ways.

SPEAKER_01:

There's so much, yes. There is, I think again, so A, you know, the goal, the the purpose of this is to highlight that with time and the need to reinvent yourself and seek new purpose and change, kind of take a left turn in your life. The idea of giving just can be far more meaningful than maybe you thought about before. Um, oh see, and now I've totally missed my second point. This is the paramenopause in me. She would have a really good idea.

SPEAKER_02:

I'll build on it and just say start, start where you are. So you still have a kid at home. But that's okay. Yeah, you still have someone at home who is on a team and they're needing some support on that hockey team, volleyball team, whatever, step up and be that person and contribute at on the team or contribute at the school or contribute in your neighborhood. Step up where you are and then see where it goes. And if you and if you don't have anything like that happening right now, step up at work or come up with ideas. That's or find somebody. That's okay. Just send us a message. Just find us.

SPEAKER_01:

Just come join us. Join us. Yeah. We're always looking for new people. Yeah, good combo. I'm glad we gave you a bit of an opportunity to share. I know this is an important part for you. And kind of you do a lot of work in this area. So I still don't think what I'm doing enough. I'm I'm still. Well, that's okay. I'm glad you don't think way more than I am. Sure. But within you know your reasonable life, you do give you give more than a lot of us do. So thank you for that. And I look forward to tomorrow. Yeah, we're gonna go. Yeah, we'll be good. Yeah, we'll post about it.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, thanks everyone. Okay, chat line.

SPEAKER_01:

Bye. Bye. If you felt this one, share it because what's left isn't less, it's everything.

SPEAKER_02:

I just don't do it again. I'm like, why are you daring at it?