Tonight, I listened to a live stream from Ami Dar, who is the founder of Idealist. It was a really inspiring lecture that resonates with me personally, and really excites me for the future. Let me tell you why.

When I first moved to LA, I really wanted to volunteer somewhere locally. When I lived in Michigan, I worked for the Parks and Recreation department teaching three year olds different sports, and refereeing soccer. I love working with kids, and I love sports, and I love teaching. So I thought that I should find something that combined all of these things out in California so I could meet people in my community.

But when I started Googling “youth soccer programs Los Angeles” I had a really hard time getting ahold of someone…I called Rec centers, I emailed them, I looked at leagues and schools, desperately searching for a volunteer opportunity that could fit into my schedule.

Enter Pasadena Yes. Almost five years ago, on March 18, 2009, I emailed Jeff Brown about his program, Pasadena Yes, asking if he needed volunteers for his organization.

He emailed me back the next day, telling me to come to the school on April 4 to help out with the soccer program. I knew the kids would be 4 to 9. And I knew not much else. So on April 4, I showed up, and I met Jeff and Gabriel and other coaches in the program.

Five years later, I am still coaching (and now running) the soccer program at Pasadena Yes. I had Jeff (my Jeff) redesign the website for the organization. I have him come occasionally and take photos. I roped Rebecca into coaching for a few seasons, and Liz, and since 2012 I have somehow been lucky enough to have Brian as my co-coach. I’ve coached soccer, and basketball, and volleyball. I’ve made Ryan come for a Saturday and make himself available in the future, and had Jen and Corelyn and countless other people come to the final game of the season and cheer on my kids.

I love coaching soccer, I love making a difference, and I love my Saturday mornings outside under the sun. And I know that if I hadn’t been brave enough (which really isn’t all that brave) to email a stranger and show up at a random gym on a Saturday morning, I would not be 15 seasons in to a program that has changed my life.

So how does this have to do with Idealist? Well, if I was a little shyer, I would never have just emailed someone randomly and signed myself up for coaching alone. But, lucky for me, I am pretty outgoing. Idealist’s new plan to connect people to each other locally and world wide reminds me of the questions I normally get when people ask how I got involved: how, why, this is volunteer?!” 

You can get overwhelmed online with information; I know because I once looked into opening a community garden in my neighborhood and quickly got too overwhelmed figuring out what permits I’d need, etc. But it would have been really nice if I had a friend to split that work with. Enter Idealist. This new network of Connectors can start community gardens, and women’s groups, and soccer programs, and educate programs, and will help find experts who are looking to teach, for novices looking to learn, and for those in between who have a few hours to spare helping a cause they care deeply about.

Idealist can explain it better than I can, so I’ll lead you to their site for more information on what this network will mean. But I encourage you to join in, to take part in making our world a better place – whatever that may mean for you.