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PaperclipPerfector  24d ago (text post)   2792 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 20, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Thanks some more. So, I hope that this is enough so that, the next time /u/hydroacetylene tells me to "join a community org(lions club is always recruiting)," I can point him to all this and tell him to shove it.

There are probably regional differences at work here. Until reading this thread, I’d never heard of a Lions club that charges extortionate dues or has exclusive rules about membership. Certainly the ones in my area will take just about anyone, even though in practice the members tend to be almost all retirees these days.

The Rotary Club, by contrast, have always been exclusively for professionals, as are usually all of the Masonic organizations.

If you’re just looking to volunteer and connect with people that way, what about any local soup kitchens or food banks?

I’d never heard of a Lions club that charges extortionate dues

What do you define as "extortionate"? The problem is that what most people would consider perfectly affordable dues are outside my price range. It's the same thing as with gym memberships, or any other of things people recommend to me on the assumption that anyone who lives in America and can get online can spare an extra $30~$40 a month for something.

If you’re just looking to volunteer and connect with people that way

Well, the original context was more about politics: that if I want "socially conservative institutions and communities, go and join them" (as opposed to waiting for a Caesar).

The two local organizations I am part of have dues of $20 and $45 annually. I wouldn’t remain a member of either if they charged that amount monthly. I believe the local Lions clubs have annual dues that are in a similar price range, though I don’t know the exact figure.

join a community org(lions club is always recruiting)

In general, good advice.

His experience with Lions might vary. Depending on his location and especially age (my local Lions' youth org is much, much more open), his club might truly always be looking for people who just show up and do the work.

In general, good advice.

In general, but not for me. I asked this question elsewhere, and the answers I got were more invite-only organizations, most of which bar atheists.

Basically, it's what I already know — I'm just subhuman scum, Lebensunwertes Leben, and no club would ever want me as a member.

no club would ever want me as a member

Objectively false. Concluding this from a quick look at a small section of some of the most traditional and elitist clubs is a bad idea.

A single, quick google search shows me that Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage has a "No One Dies Alone" program. They are looking for volunteers. Maybe this would be a better start, and offer some opportunity to meditate on what kind of life is lebensunwert.

If their volunteer requirements are also to stringent (hospitals usually require no criminal history because of the kids, and vaccines because of, well, all the sick people), just go help out at a food bank. They won't care about either.

Objectively false. Concluding this from a quick look at a small section of some of the most traditional and elitist clubs is a bad idea.

Okay, so amend it to "no club worth joining" then. The original context that prompted me to ask this was /u/hydroacetylene saying to me "[i]f you want socially conservative institutions and communities, go and join them," and to "join a community org(lions club is always recruiting)"

So, the point is finding "a community org" within the class of "socially conservative institutions and communities" that's accessible to a poor, disabled, far-right atheist like me… in Anchorage.

Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage has a "No One Dies Alone" program.

From the hospital's volunteer page's list of requirements:

• Commit to volunteering for at least six months, fulfilling an assigned two- to four-hour shift each week

• Serve a minimum of 100 hours

This seems like exactly the sort of regular, scheduled volunteer work that gets Social Security deciding you can hold down a job and aren't really disabled.

just go help out at a food bank.

Our food bank hasn't been doing so well lately with regards to supplies, and from what I've seen, has been scaling back their operations. I say this as someone who, until recent schedule changes, was a frequent recipient of their help.

Ah, I see. I feel the goalposts keep moving, but that's not necessarily your fault.

Maybe hydro's Lions are really a different beasts than the ones I know. I wouldn't call them a conservative institution at all, they are purposefully fully centrist. My local club is currently assembling Christmas boxes for the refugees in the city - most of which the average conservative on this website would directly deport, I'm sure. But anyway...

So the goal is a conservative, but atheist community, at low cost. Unfortunately, that kills a whole lot of religious resources and stuff like the Young Repulicans, respectively. Is service even a criterion? Because if we drop that, you could just go to a rifle club meet-up or the cheapest sailing club you can find. I've done both at below $100 per year, and got to use club equipment for that fee.

This seems like exactly the sort of regular, scheduled volunteer work that gets Social Security deciding you can hold down a job and aren't really disabled.

I wonder who would tell them? And if someone did, 2 hours a week is a long shot from a job. But I have no idea how they work... I would probably just ask them flat out, they shouldn't fault you for giving a structured activity a try.

Our food bank hasn't been doing so well lately with regards to supplies, and from what I've seen, has been scaling back their operations

First link on Google was the most impressively professional effort to organize volunteers by a non-profit I have ever seen: https://foodbankofalaska.org/individual-volunteers/ They seem to place hundreds and hundreds of volunteers every month. 30 seconds in, the system looks to be uncharacteristically efficient and streamlined for an NGO.

So the goal is a conservative, but atheist community, at low cost.

Not so much "atheist community" but "conservative community that doesn't exclude atheists" — the Elks, Eagles, and Freemasons all require belief in God, the Knights of Columbus are Catholic-only.

you could just go to a rifle club meet-up

Would this require me to own a rifle? Because I can shoot (I grew up doing so; parents are both life NRA members, one of my brothers used to sell guns), but my past psychiatric hospitalizations means I'm legally barred from owning one. For that matter, it might bar me from participating with a borrowed one as well.

or the cheapest sailing club you can find

The only sailing clubs I can find are the Alaska Sailing Club in Big Lake — 57 miles from Anchorage by road, $250 individual membership — and the William H. Seward Yacht Club, in Seward — 127 miles from Anchorage by road, $575 individual membership.

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