Many of us feel a great deal of sympathy for people who are poor or who are less fortunate than we are ourselves. We feel that we want to help them in some way, but how?
Sometimes, we can give them help directly. If, for example, there is an old person living near us who is lonely and who does not have much to live on, we can pay regular visits to that person and take them little treats. We might make them some sweets or buy them a magazine.
Maybe one of our neighbour is a single mother who is badly off. Perhaps she hardly ever gets out because she cannot afford to pay for a baby-sitter. We can offer to look after the children for her while she goes to the cinema or something. She would greatly appreciate some free time.
Sometimes charities set up places where poor and homeless people can get free food such as hot soup, tea and sandwiches. Often the charity will welcome volunteers to help distribute the food.
Charities which help poor often also run charity shops. People donate things to these shops and the profit that is made goes to help the poor. If we want to help the poor we can either volunteer to help in one of these shops, or we can donate things such as books, toys or clothes to be sold in the shops.
Often the only thing we can do for the poor is to give money to charities which help them. Donating money to a charity may not be as satisfying as helping people directly, but our financial contributions can help give someone a better life, or even save a life.
Vocabulary
Lonely—alone
Volunteer—a person who works without money
