I spent a couple of days designing a charity newsletter last week. The newsletter will go out a handful of times a year, updating donors on how their money is being spent, and telling the local community what services are on offer.
I wasn’t paid. I volunteered. It’s for a good cause, I get to use my skills and expand my CV, and the charity gets (I hope) a professional looking product. Everyone wins.
I could bring my laptop into the charity offices, and put a newsletter together there, but it makes more sense to work for home. The TFT screen is much larger than the rather cramped laptop display. The right tool for the job.
Still, I went through Garda vetting. I first contacted the charity back in January. I did my first day’s work for them last week.
This isn’t work while on the dole. I’m self employed, so I have difficulties qualifying for the dole anyway. But it occupies my time productively. Éamon Ó Cuív wants more people to do the same, and lose their dole if they don’t. But where does the money come from to vet all those forced volunteers ‘on a cost neutral basis’?
