Relay for Life - Palo Alto 2009
Volunteering for a good cause is really the best way for anyone and everyone to make a good difference in this world. Regardless of wealth, success, gender, age, and health, it all comes down to community and people linking up together to eventually become a big difference.
It's really up to every single participant to make it work, everyone needs to work as hard as the other, and to spread the word by brute force and eventually virally. The concepts are not very different than how businesses try to spread the word to others, and how clients or users start taking part.
The most powerful difference between a business and a good cause, is that good causes aren't always just for the individual. It's for someone else. True altruism is probably impossible for human nature, but the reward of feeling good about helping and being part of a good cause is something nobody can ever feel guilty about.
Making any event or any charity successful takes as much work, if not more than any other business out there. It's hard to bring awareness to these good causes though, as it's not high priority or on anyone's real agenda to help out and volunteer. What does it take?
I'm starting with photography to help try to convey the message. This weekend I'm participating in the Alzheimer's Association's Memory Walk for 2009. Unfortunately my camera is broken =( It'll be a good experience and hopefully the next time around I will have the opportunity to document the event again.
Below are some photos I took during the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event in Palo Alto:
