November 2020 Organizational Update

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Sam Wade

As we close on the month of being together and thankful, we reflect on how far VIA has come since the beginning of this year. Despite everything unforeseen and lost in this year, we feel gratitude for the opportunity to serve and help. Voluntaryism In Action has indeed grown continuously, but we know this was a scary time for the individual and the success of any organizations, including non-profits. Our team, our engagement, and our community have grown, and for that we thank you.

We know times are tough for you and we thank you for the ongoing reminder that voluntaryists not only reach out with a helping hand when they have abundance, they also reach out when they have losses. Supporters of the state fully expect people to act selfishly in times of recession and panic, but voluntaryism proves them wrong.

Here’s what we’ve done this month with your support:

With the food drive, we helped over 30 families and delivered food to pantries in the Detroit and California Bay Area, offering around $2500, purchasing over 1500 pounds of food so far. Check out our official progress here.
We launched our annual toy drive with an initial goal of $5000. You can donate on our Facebook page.
Amanda Garvin joined our team to help with social media content.

Our family at the VIA Team wish our community happy holidays and thank you deeply for your continued love and support. May you have the joy of giving and receiving this season through continued voluntaryism.

A Very Voluntary Christmas Carol

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Jeff Perry

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Christmas stories. The classic tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s redemption from heartless miser to generous philanthropist is a holiday staple. It’s affected culture so much that the word “Scrooge” is synonymous with a greedy or cold person—or one who just doesn’t like Christmas.

There are many reasons given in the story why Scrooge doesn’t like Christmas, but a big one is that he just can’t understand why people would voluntarily give away their money, time, or even kindness to help other people. His one employee, Bob Cratchit, has a salary barely high enough to make up for Scrooge’s tightfisted disdain.

When a pair of gentlemen come to Scrooge's office asking for donations to help the poor, Scrooge points to the money taken from him by the government...
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When a pair of gentlemen come to Scrooge’s office asking for donations to help the poor, Scrooge points to the money taken from him by the government: “Are there no prisons?…And the Union workhouses?…I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.” Unfortunately, this does little to help the poor—the gentlemen protest that “Many can’t go there, and many would rather die.” And it’s even more obvious from Scrooge’s cold, unfeeling demeanor that he gets nothing at all from “helping” the poor in this way.

***Spoiler Alert***

On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old partner, Marley, as well as three Christmas Spirits. Marley, who lived his life much as Scrooge does, is still bound by the chains of his greed, tormented by how he could have helped his fellow men. The Spirit of Christmas Past shows Scrooge how he used to care and have compassion for others, until he let the cares of the world set his heart like concrete.

The Spirit of Christmas Present takes Scrooge around the earth, viewing the happiness made possible even in the midst of poverty by caring for others. His heart softening, Scrooge is distraught at the sight of the sufferers, and asks if there is nobody to help them. “Are there no prisons?” the Spirit replies cuttingly. “Are there no workhouses?” Stricken by his own callousness in using the government as an excuse not to care, Scrooge finds himself before the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come, who shows him the dark, lonely life (and death) that await him—if his life continues unchanged.

But Scrooge has truly seen the light. He bursts from his house on Christmas morning like a ray of sunshine, spreading cheer where before he only brought gloom. No longer content to rely on the government to use money taken by taxation to help the poor, he begins a voluntary giving spree. He sees the gentlemen from the previous day and provides a donation so generous that they are shocked. When he next sees Cratchit, Scrooge is as munificent as he was miserly: “I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family…”

Notably, Scrooge's change of heart did not cause him to advocate for more taxes or welfare programs, but to voluntarily reach out to those around him.
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The narrator records: “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more…” Notably, Scrooge’s change of heart did not cause him to advocate for more taxes or welfare programs, but to voluntarily reach out to those around him. By doing so, he affected their lives for the better in ways the government programs never could, and they in turn enriched his life in ways he never imagined.

The book refers to this as “keeping Christmas,” but voluntary giving does not have to be limited to a certain season. As Scrooge said: “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” And you don’t have to be Christian—or religious at all—to feel the kindness and compassion that Scrooge felt in his heart, and use that to voluntarily bring light and hope to others.

“May that truly be said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!”

Alpenglow Sports: A Ski Shop that Gives Back

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Callie Gunnells

On Tahoe City’s main street exists a ski and climbing shop that is more than what it appears. With a consistent base of local customers and visitors, Alpenglow Sports has been a city staple since its opening in 1979. Its wooden cozy interior and friendly atmosphere has attracted a lot of thrill seekers who are drawn to taking on the mountains. With the current COVID pandemic, the shop has had to adjust their policies to correspond with social distancing measures and took a hit on sales badly during the onset of stay-at-home orders issued by the government—like many other small businesses who have suffered during lockdowns. But after some help from the Tahoe community, Alpenglow has continued to have lines out the door onto the sidewalks of Main Street. While Alpenglow is mainly a ski shop utilized for gear and other like necessities, it is also a ski shop that gives back, thanks to the efforts of the generous owner Brenden Madigan and their successful fundraising for local non-profits.

This fall, Alpenglow sports raised over $300,000 for local NPOs while they hosted an event called the Alpenglow Winter Speaker Series. This is an annual event is centered around sharing stories, and photos of adventures had in the mountains while paying it forward through inspiration and charity. Alpenglow has hosted slideshows for many figures of outdoor sports including American rock climber Tommy Caldwell and ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson.

During the fifteen years of the Winter Speaker Series history, over half a million dollars in total has been raised and given to various non-profits like the Sierra Avalanche Center and the Boys and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe. This event is a special time for the local residents and visitors to experience togetherness and show their support for improving their community. It is a free event, but all proceeds from raffles and bar sales go to non-profits. The Alpenglow Winter Speaker Series is just one of the experiential events that Brendan Madigan, the owner of Alpenglow, has created in North Lake Tahoe. There is also the Broken Arrow Skyrace and the Alpenglow Mountain Festival.

“Alpenglow has always been an influential part of the Tahoe and greater-than-Tahoe Community,” expresses Dave Nettle, who has also had a slideshow featured in the Winter Speaker Series about his experiences as a mountain guide and skier.

The owner of Alpenglow Sports is Brenden Madigan, who has been working at Alpenglow since 2003. He purchased the shop in 2011, and since then has made it a personal mission to center the shop’s importance around reciprocating the love the long standing community has that has kept Alpenglow alive in its forty year life span. “I think people derive happiness not from things, but from experiences and relationships. Our whole business centers arounds giving back to the community,” says Madigan.

Madigan’s efforts have created a centerpiece for events and fundraising, and during the current pandemic, he stresses that the need has never been greater saying, “People are struggling. My goal is to move the needle in the community by making direct impact in people’s lives.”

It was during the initial COVID lockdowns that Madigan reached out to his community for Alpenglow. Its future was looking grim. The response was overwhelming, and they were able to sell over $100,000 worth of gift cards to keep going. But since then – business hasn’t stopped and Madigan plans to keep his doors open for a long time.

And truly, what a perfect example of the power of giving individuals who stop at nothing to help improve the place where they live by exercising voluntaryism and kindness. North Lake Tahoe, you have wonderful residents and small business owners whose tireless work allows the wheel to keep turning.

VIA’s Second Annual Holiday Food Drive–Part 1

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Sarah Perry

One of our favorite holiday traditions here at Voluntaryism in Action—our annual fundraiser for holiday meals—was a huge success this year. Our donors helped us almost double what we raised last year, and we collected almost $9k.

More families need help putting food on their tables than ever right now due to government encroachments on natural liberties, including the right to simply go to work. Voluntaryists everywhere have proven their principles by stepping up to help while these basic difficulties are so widespread.

With these funds, the VIA team purchased essential items for food banks across the country, including St Jude Food Pantry and St Moses the Black in Detroit, Michigan and the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano in California (the only food bank operating in the entire Bay Area due to government restrictions). Our team personally delivered over 1,500lbs of food! On the individual level, through our website and personal referrals, we assisted 30 families with groceries in time for Thanksgiving.

Watch for our holiday meal assistance forms to re-open soon in time to help with meals for Christmas, Chanukah, and other festive December meals!

Chef is Offering Free Meals to Jobless

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Jeff Perry

One of the only good things about the tyrannical reaction to the pandemic has been the outpouring of support for people the government has hurt. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs due to state restrictions and lockdowns. But people are stepping up to help where the government inevitably hurts. For example, one chef is offering free meals to jobless individuals at his restaurants.

Chef Andrew Gruel (his food is better than his name) is a judge on the Food Network and the co-host of the SoCal Restaurant Show. He also owns Slapfish Seafood—a restaurant chain with 27 locations in the US—and the Big Parm pizzeria. On 3 December, Chef Gruel took to Twitter to remind everyone that people who had lost their jobs could get a free meal at his restaurants.

Hundreds of commenters raved about not only the Chef’s food, but about his kindness and generosity, and his willingness to assist those whom the state had harmed. Some people even offered to pay for the meals of jobless folks who take Chef Gruel up on his offer.

Predictably, not everyone was happy about people helping other people. The propaganda put out by the government and mainstream media has warped many people’s sense of right and wrong, even to the point where voluntarily helping people in distress is denounced as “selfishness.”

Another common criticism of charity such as Chef Gruel’s is that greedy people will take advantage of his generosity, nobody will pay for meals, and he’ll lose money and go out of business. On the contrary, over the weekend the restaurants pulled in double the usual business as people flocked in to support Chef Gruel. And that money, Chef Gruel said, would be used to give his employees a holiday bonus.

The general condition of humanity is that people feel empathy for each other and want to help. This is why voluntary charity works—as the example of Chef Gruel and many more like him demonstrate.

Voluntaryism in Action

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Monthly Archives: December 2020

November 2020 Organizational Update

A Very Voluntary Christmas Carol

Alpenglow Sports: A Ski Shop that Gives Back

VIA’s Second Annual Holiday Food Drive–Part 1

Chef is Offering Free Meals to Jobless