Betterment – means trying to relieve a persistent need by standing beside a person. This is helping the person and is relationship oriented. Betterment gets us closer to people because it’s necessary to have some sort of relationship with the person we are serving.
Limits exist with betterment as well: the help comes from outside of the person and we don’t really affect the lifestyle of a person, because often, we don’t ask the person what they think is needed, we do "to" or "for" them. Betterment can be described by this familiar saying – “teach a man to fish, and he eats tomorrow.” Generally, schools and some agencies serve the community in betterment; probably 20% of serving in our community is in the form of betterment. Why just 20%? Betterment is relationship dependent and building relationships take time, also it can create inter-dependency, smaller groups serving only their issue or need.
Bridges of Hope is Betterment
Once a month, Bridges of Hope Night opens its doors. It's like a giant "kitchen table," where people gather 'round to discuss, well, everything! Professionals share resources, volunteers share food and connections, and participants share life experience. All in all, its an event to serve each of us by having people help us break our problems down into the smallest piece we can do. And then we do it.
Businesses pay people to come in and share wisdom. What would you pay to get some wisdom? At Bridges, you pay with an hour of your time, and the willingness to learn and share. This is a night you need - so do we! See you there.
