Micro-Volunteering Gets A Boost Through Pyjama Power

Online, October 25, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Cardiff, UK, October 25th, 2009 - The concept of micro-volunteering, where people give their time to benefit worthy causes in bite sized chunks whilst still dressed in their pyjamas, got a boost this week when it was announced on 19th October that a Cardiff, UK based initiative called Help From Home was awarded the Runner Up prize in a UK nationwide 'How To Make A Difference' competition from an entry field of over 100 'empowering' community changing projects. The competition was run by Community Channel and Media Trust for 'small ground breaking projects that are making a BIG difference' in society.

The decision to award the Runner Up prize to 'Help From Home' was based on the impact the initiative was making in society through its efforts to encourage people to spend their spare time at home more purposefully through micro-volunteering opportunities. The judging panel stated that they 'felt it had the potential to grow and create change'. 'Help From Home' currently lists over 450 easy, no committment home based volunteering actions, most of which can be accomplished in just a pair of pyjamas!

Mike Bright, who runs the initiative, said of receiving the Runner Up award, "I didn't think Help From Home was worthy to be even entered in the competition, but I still submitted the application form anyway and promptly forgot about it. To be given the runner up prize was quite simply amazing - way off the radar as to what I thought the judges would think of it."

"If I had known who I was up against, I certainly wouldn't have entered the competition", continues Mike Bright. "Through a simple Google search, I was able to check out the 11 other initiatives who were shortlisted. To my amazement, I found that most of them had sponsors supporting them or had been given grant money or worked on their initiative full time. I run Help From Home in my spare time, all by myself from my own finances. To receive the runner up award simply takes my breath away - it really does".

Most people's perception of volunteering is that of joining a group of people at a certain place and a certain time to participate in an action that will benefit others. These days with the advent of micro-volunteering, it can be performed on the go, on demand or whilst still dressed in that pair of pyjamas! Timewise, a spare 10 seconds right upto 30 minutes is all that's needed to help out worthy causes - whether you're in your own home, on the bus or waiting for someone in a restaurant. For instance, you can feed a starving person for free with just a simple click of a mouse, tackle climate change via your mobile as well as putting a smile on a terminally ill child via email.

Micro-volunteering is certainly coming of age these days, as two other websites aside from 'Help From Home' also provide and promote actions that can be completed in under 30 minutes from virtually anywhere in the world. For people with mobiles, The Extraordinaries provide volunteer opportunities on-the-go with their iphone app, whilst the CharityGuide's flexible 'Volunteer on Demand' actions could be the answer for people with unpredictable schedules.

All in all then, there really is now no excuse not to be able to volunteer your time. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of opportunities out there all vying for your spare couple of minutes. As the tagline from 'Help From Home' succinctly puts it, you really can 'Change the world in just your pyjamas'!