Volunteer Opportunities: Stories of Us

As a part of my ministry here at the Temple, I thought it would be a great idea that we have an archive of people who are willing to share their personal stories with other members. The idea that was bouncing around my mind, is similar to NPR’s Story Corp, but it’s revamped to talk about matters and experiences that are both personally relevant and defines our “suchness” or what it means to be us. I’m talking about stories that provide encouragement, spread love, highlights personal experiences, both successes and shortcomings, and tales of perseverance. Sharing these stories of laughter and fallen tears that have shaped our understanding of how to walk through life in our shoes.

My goal with this ministry is to spark the peopling between our members through empathic listening and vulnerability. I know, at times, we interact with the people here and identify them by their unique profiles, but it’s important to remind ourselves of the individual behind each username. There is a living, breathing person behind each screen who may benefit from the experiences that we choose to share. I’m called to remind myself that there is no act too small to be passed over when it can add to the happiness of another.

I’m using this post as an outreach for volunteers within the Temple who wish to participate. My vision for this project would be as simple as a conversation between two friends. I love the idea of having these stories available in audio to promote that “person-esque” mode of delivery, but I understand that barriers may prevent this option from occurring in each circumstance. I want the listeners to hear the real emotions behind each of the stories and vicariously experience whatever lesson is being shared by the volunteer.

I am really flexible with moving forward in this project and I am completely open to suggestions, topics, and input from anybody who is willing to help! The topic of each conversation can exist on a wide array of subject. My main goal is just to capture that human side to the Jedi community. We can talk about friendship, favorite memories, love and heartbreak, resilience, hobbies, your favorite kind of flower, the way a cloudless sunset makes you feel, or your own motivation/philosophy of life. I just want to reaffirm that you are a special person who can make a difference in the life of another special person.

Have a Happy Day and thank you ahead of time for making a difference.

I'm here, and I think this was a great idea. How do we start?

I love this idea and the intention behind it. Would these be in person "sharings," or were you thinking that we would have some sort of specific library of people's positive experiences? If I can help with this, I'd be interested in doing so. When I was first reading this and got to "having these stories available in audio" I felt a moment of excitement, because having an audio archive of short pieces by members could be very cool -- and could have a large impact for relatively low effort. A member's story could be recorded by them, sent in for review and audio editing (if necessary) and then placed into the archive as a permanent fixture of positivity.

Dunno if that's at all what you were thinking about, but it sparked something for me!

Fantastic! I'm hoping to either have people submit audio recordings, if they feel comfortable enough talking without prompts, or having some recording medium where either myself or someone they shared that experience with talks with them and listens (sort of like if they recall a specific memory about being at the lake, and the person is there recording the message with someone else who might have been there like a sibling or a friend).

I'll help however I can

I offer to help in any way I can.

Im down

I have a story that's not super positive, but lots of perseverance (I'm still alive aren't I? ) Although some of what we might talk about, you may not be able to publish for a little while (few months?). I'm pretty open about my past so my story's out there in a few threads, but I think a conversation would be benificial. But I have a lot of other fun stories if you want some less heavy stuff too I love stories and the telling of them!

As another idea, what about recording video chats where willing? you can get expresion along with vocal patterns.

I'd also reccomend releasing these maybe as you make them? At least a week apart so folks have time to watch them before they start stacking up. (no idea if you got that far in your planning hehe, so forgive me if I'm giving you ideas you've already thought of!)

I too have stories that I do not mind sharing.

As an added bit, I'm willing to offer help needed to edit these (that's the sort of work I do, professionally). I'd be willing to do anything basic to improve audio quality, and whatnot, so that's another part of how I can volunteer for this.