Jeanne's Causes

One of the ways I cope with having metastatic cancer is to make sure my life is NOT ALL ABOUT CANCER.

One of the ways I do that is to volunteer for causes I care about. And, for the most part, the organizations and people I work with are not aware that I even have cancer. So I get a break there.

Right now, I am volunteering to help homeless kids and homeless kittens. A sad irony, the cats' lives are often better than the kids'.

I volunteer once a week at First Place, an incredible school here in Seattle for grade-school-age kids who are "in transition." None of these kids actually is living on the streets. They live in shelters and other housing for families who have been homeless.

My job is to run the Japanese Club. It's a once-a-week commitment, for just an hour. And I love it.

I teach the kids some Japanese. We do origami. We practice picking up jelly beans with chopsticks. We draw maps of Japan and talk about the ways people in Japan are different from us: They bow. We shake hands. If you try to do both at the same time (a common occurrence when East meets West), you bump heads.

The kids love that last part.

First Place can always use help. The school needs money. It needs donations (check the Web site to see what is needed right now). It needs volunteers, warm bodies to make a difference. First Place especially needs male mentors: guys who can spend at hour a week at the school just being friends with a little boy.

First Place School

Kitten Therapy
I call it kitten therapy.

I've been a volunteer with Animal Talk Rescue for about six years now. In fact, right now I'm fostering the tiny kitten I mentioned earlier, Percival. Two of my pets, one cat and my dog, Constant, came to me through the rescue.

So I know what good work this no-kill shelter does. Animal Talk's mission is "to end the plight and suffering of homeless, neglected, and abused companion animals, also to educate the public about the benefits of spaying and neutering."

The shelter can always use help--anything from fostering animals to a donation of old towels. Cash is also good.

Animal Talk Rescue

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.